


Twilight v. Twilight

by Ha_YouWish



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Aka theres holograms and stuff, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, CURRENTLY CLOSED FOR REPAIRS, DO NOT TRUST MY LYING ASS I PROCRASTINATE LIKE A BITCH, Dont worry it'll be consistent for each chapter, Gen, Multi, Rival AU, Slightly Futuristic/Modern, Xion goes by she/they, but with three, dont forget the "dating your hero/villain rival but you didnt know it" trope, i might just rewrite this whole thing tbh, obligatory superhero au, speaking of which megamind was an underrated movie go watch it right now, theres probably gonna be a mindfuck somewhere in there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-03-30 00:04:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13938303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ha_YouWish/pseuds/Ha_YouWish
Summary: Riku and Kairi have both worked for the Unified Gifted People Association ever since they found out about their abilities. They work for the Twilight Division, the team stationed in Twilight City who works as heroes to protect the innocent and fight crime. Being a hero has certainly helped with confidence.That is, until a group calling themselves the Twilight Tempest challenges everything they both believe in, Riku meets a childhood friend they both take a liking to, and supervillians and evil corporations actually start existing.{CURRENTLY BEING REWRITTEN (as another fic, sorry people)}





	1. Making plans with criminal pals

The abandoned district in Twilight City was built like a grid. This shape made it easy for people to navigate the empty streets and buildings. Despite its name, the unofficial district wasn’t abandoned, but a place where people did business, made deals, gathered, planned heists, and generally very criminal things. There’s another thing that the grid-like streets were good for, superhero patrol.

Superheroes, or those part of the Unified Gifted People Association (UGPA), patrolled the place like wardens to a jail cell.

The UGPA was a group that hunted for “gifted” people. Gifted as in anyone who was advanced in magic or can use Light or Dark magic. The term “gifted” doesn’t really apply to the rest. The rest are people who have enhanced capabilities or body parts. Those abilities can range from an unheard of hair color to super strength to a tail. Those were the mutations. Fitting, but the word wasn’t as nice. There wasn’t many people with a mutation _and_ advanced magic.

In another life Sora probably would have idolized superheroes, had he not been a “Gifted” human being who wasn’t a part of the UGPA. However, as he crouched in the shadow of a building’s overhang on the edge of the district, he felt like they’re just annoying when he was trying to get to the meeting place.

Sora pulled down his dark green hood to hide his face and peeked out from around the corner. He moved his head out of the way to barely dodge a blast of magic aimed for him, but the left side of his face still felt warm. He turned east and ran down the street. He could hear loud footsteps after him.

“If you’re innocent, you wouldn’t run!” He heard a woman’s voice yell. At that, he was almost tempted to use magic. But unfortunately, all he could do was run.

He ran down the street and felt a strong magical presence. His pursuer was charging up a larger attack, it would probably be harder to dodge, but he could use that as a cover of getting away. A bright golden chain struck the ground on his left, and then another on his right. Sora moved out of the way just in time for another to barely miss his left shoulder. It hit the road in front, and sent up a cloud of dust around him. He skidded to a halt.

Sora took the opportunity to duck into an building open building on the left side of the street. He stayed quiet as he heard the footsteps go by but, thankfully, she went into the building next to him.

“Stormfall, huh?” He muttered to himself, pulling out his Untraceable Phone (Xion wasn’t one to name things dramatically).

_+4 Others:_

**_~~~:_ ** _just had a nice conversation with blue_

 **_~~~:_ ** _she might be coming over your way soon_

 **_\---:_ ** _Understood._

 **____:_ ** _you’re so serious, you know._

 **____:_ ** _but got it anyways._

 **_@:_ ** _Gotcha_

 **_***:_ ** _I might be a little late then_

 _Of course Vanitas would be late,_ Sora thought. His brother loved messing with superheroes, even if their group hadn’t even announced themselves yet.

Sora stood back up and checked out the window for any sign of people. There wasn’t any, so he headed back the same direction down the street, counting the blocks as he went.

 _Two, three, four, five, six._ He turned north sharply, then counted to four blocks away. Then he picked the shortest building and entered, waiting. A few minutes passed and there was no sign of anyone following him, so he went out the back door and entered the building next-door.

From the main room, Sora could see that the back room had its door open. He stuck his head in and called out, “Hey Xion!”

Xion looked up from where she was rolling out a cloth filled with her tools onto the table. She had on the same green hoodie as he did and her short black hair was in a small ponytail.

“Sora,” she pointed out the door as soon as he took a few steps inside, “Did you make sure no one was following you?”

“I did, don't worry,” he sat down in the chair by the desk next to the rolling chair, “I gotta hand it to Lea for coming up with that.”

“Well I _am_ a genius,” Lea said, suddenly standing in the doorway. By now, Sora was used to Lea randomly appearing places. He heard Lea sniff, “Aw, it’s still so dusty in here.”

“Yeah,” Sora agreed, “And stuffy. Can I take off this hoodie now?”

“Go ahead,” Xion said, not looking up, “But if you knock off any of my tools or projects, I will hurt you.”

Sora was actually used to the threat, but that didn’t make it any less real. “Gotcha,” He replies.

He shrugged off his hoodie and tried to stretch out in the chair without knocking anything over.

“Sora,” Naminé said as she walked in carrying a black backpack and taking off her green hood, “I need your help with a passcode.”

He moved his chair closer to the desk as she sat down and opened her laptop. “Can’t you just make a program or something to find it?”

“Nope, that would take too long,” she said, “It’s a fourteen-digit code that blocks me from a particular UGPA file about lab experiments. Bet you five thousand munny that you can’t get it right in three tries.”

“Oh you’re so on!” Sora said excitedly. “The first thing is that there’s an illusion spell on the screen, so there’s actually a six-digit code.”

“Dammit. I thought you wouldn’t notice,” Naminé huffed while Sora typed in the code and got it on his first try.

Lea chuckled from where he was sitting by the table. “I told you it wouldn’t work. You know, if you want to win a bet against Sora, try _literally anything else._ ”

“Hey!”

“Whatever,” Naminé dug out her wallet and handed him the munny, “A bet’s a bet. Plus you saved me some time getting into the file.”

“Nice. Now I’ve got enough for that new video game.”

“Is _that_ what you’re worried about? Doing criminal activities needs funds you know,” Xion said.

“This is different from normal ‘criminal activities that need funding,’” Naminé pointed out. “We’re investigating in the most illegal way possible.”

“Yeah,” Sora agreed, “And we’ll get munny from somewhere else. Vani and I came up with a plan.”

“That's rich, you and Vanitas being smart, _together_ ,” Xion rolled her eyes.

“Speak of the devil. He’s laying on his face in the main room,” Lea gestures over his shoulder.

Curious, Sora peeked out the door to find that Vanitas was, in fact, laying on the ground. He had already taken off his hoodie and had his arms fully stretched out.

Sora walked over and nudged his brother with his foot, but he swatted it away. “He’s not dead. I think his pride’s hurt, though.”

“She got my side with a weak Light barrier,” he groaned.

“That’s what you deserve for trying to play tag!” Naminé said from the back room.

Do you know how hard it was getting a very petty Vanitas to move out of the way? _Very._ Apparently because of the fact he could have dodged the barrier earlier he didn’t have the energy to move his legs anymore.

Finally, when they drag Vanitas in by force and make him get over it and _focus_ , they could go over the plan one final time to make everything clear. Tomorrow they would make their debut at Twilight City Bank (Why does everything need to be named after the city?). Immediately following lunch is when they’ll show up to give enough time for Sora and Vanitas to sneak away from school. The authorities and heroes would respond faster at a bank than a store.

“Now!” Sora said excitedly, “We need codenames!”

“Void,” Vanitas said immediately.

“Damn kid. You really are emo,huh?” Lea joked.

“Shut up. We’re the bad guys, right? So it fits perfectly.”

“If you say so,” Lea shrugged and leaned his chair back against the wall. “Fire’s kinda my _thing,_ so maybe something like Inflammable?

“Doesn’t that mean ‘not flammable,’ though?” Sora asked from the desk chair.

“Nope,” Naminé said, typing away on her laptop, “It means the same thing as flammable. They used to put it on boxes a long time ago, but people got confused, so they switched it.”

“Languages are difficult,” Sora groaned.

“Inflammable has too many syllables,” Xion said, “Make it shorter. I’m too lazy for that.”

“Fine. How about Inflame?”

“Great. Now it’s my turn,” Naminé said, “I'm going for Chainbrake!”

Sora heard Vanitas mumble something under his breath to Xion, who punched him in the arm before she uttered one word, “Oath.”

“Why's that your codename?” Naminé asked.

Xion’s face went red, “It's what I'm doing this for.”

“Well, it's simple and easy to say, so I say it's a great name,” Lea said, “Sora, what about yours?

Sora actually hadn't thought of one. He wanted to come up with a good one, but nothing actually seemed to fit.

“I actually couldn't come up with one that didn't make me sound like an asshole or a four year old,” he admitted.

“Or a four year old asshole,” his brother added. “He kept me up all night by yelling them out randomly.”

“I just was asking your opinion!” Sora tried to defend himself.

“Then don't do it when I'm trying to sleep, _no name_.”

 _Wait a second_ , Sora thought, _That could work_.

“Then I'll be No Name," Sora said.

“If it works,” Lea said.

With the plan gone over and the codenames decided, all they needed is to go over equipment. Everything they had was to scare or knock unconscious- they didn't need weapons to kill, because that isn't their goal. (With the abilities they had, they really didn't need weapons in general, but they couldn't afford to get tired in the middle of a “mission.”)

“What about our outfits?” Sora asked. He had already seen the model of his, as had everyone else with theirs, but he wanted to actually put it on. Putting them on would make everything they were about to do seem real, he couldn't wait.

“Alright,” Xion moved to grab a small cardboard box from her black bag. She carefully opened it up and took out something that looked like a ring.

She walked over to Lea and pressed it into his hand, he took some time to look it over before he put it on. From what Sora could see, it was really shiny and reflective.

“You seem like the type to wear rings,” Xion said.

Lea raised an eyebrow, “I don't know if I should be offended. That sure _sounded_ like an insult.”

Xion rolled her eyes and took out a stamp and a sort of ink pad, “Stamp this on the back of your neck so you can use it.”

Lea did as he was told then handed it back to her. Xion moved on to Naminé, handing her earrings. He could only that she too had studied the design on them, but she smiled afterward and put them on. After Namine also stamped her neck, Xion moved across the room to Sora.

To Sora, she handed him a necklace. There was a crown on it. He looked up at Xion with a silent question that she didn't answer. So he put it on and hid it under his shirt.

Xion gave Vanitas his. He also had a necklace, but the design on it was quickly covered up. Vanitas put on his necklace and tucked it into his shirt. Xion, however, didn't hand him the stamp.

“Do you want to demonstrate how to put it on?” Xion asked him.

Vanitas didn't respond, but wisps of darkness started to surround him. The clung onto him and formed solid material, clothes. _So cool…_ Sora thought.

Vanitas’s clothes could very easily be mistaken as his normal wear from far away, if you didn't count his tinted black and red motorcycle-helmet-looking thing. He had on a black shirt with dark purple lines extending out from a center point on his chest (it reminded Sora of a net). He had on a sort of jacket over it that faded from dark gray to red and black pants and gloves. There was a sort of symbol on his back, but Sora couldn't see it from where he was.

Xion stopped the timer on her phone, muttering, “Two point three seconds…”

“You actually look like you could fight in that,” Naminé said before Sora could declare that he wanted to go next, “You know, even though a jacket usually gets in the way.”

“ _Please_ , I could fight in anything,” Vanitas bragged while Xion checked him over, probably for any “faults in design” as she calls it.

“You fill the ‘I'm totally a villain’ quota enough for all of us,” Lea said, “We look like Destiny Keeper compared to you.”

Vanitas rolled his eyes, “Nice to know your outfit’s pink.”

This was his chance and Sora knew it. “I wanna go next! How do I do what Vani just did?” Sora ignored Vanitas’s annoyed muttering at the nickname.

“Let me explain how it works,” Xion started, “That stamp takes the signals your brain sends down your spinal cord and takes the commands for certain things relating to your outfitter piece. It transfers the commands to the piece and activates it. It's a one-way system so don't worry, you can't have your brain taken over or anything. I made sure and Vanitas was my test subject.”

“That's so _cool._ ” Sora sometimes couldn't believe the things Xion made. Though their society was more advanced than ever, Xion somehow stayed in first place.

“I have a question,” Lea slightly raised his hand, “Do these need to charge?”

“No, the pieces specifically use each of your magic, but just barely. It shouldn't have an effect on your magic ability, but it has an effect on how your clothes change. Vanitas uses Dark magic so that's what it uses, I use more general magic so mine is a bit different.”

“So…” Sora thought about it, “I just tell it to go on?”

“Yup.”

 _On,_ Sora commanded in his mind. The necklace started to grow warm on his chest, so he put his hand over it. Soon his hand was wrapped in the same wisps that had gone around Vanitas, but these were of light.

Sora's outfit was mostly a dark gray, with hints of yellow, red, and of blue throughout. His gloves were white and his own jacket was gray, but his shirt was a dark blue with a sort of silvery color making a pattern in different sized streaks. He had yellow on the pockets of his jacket and red on the pockets of his pants. On the back of his jacket, there's the same crown that was on his necklace. He too had a helmet on, but his was a dark gray.

“The helmets were Vani’s idea,”Xion mentioned, using the nickname Vanitas disliked.

Lea goes next, if just to prove his isn't pink. He was holding his red helmet instead of putting it on. His is red, black, and white (or light gray, Sora couldn't tell). His shirt was a dark red, but his jacket was black with bright red zippers lining the pockets and the front. Lea turned around to show off his symbol on the back. Sora half expected a flame symbol to be on his jacket (haha like the fire nation symbol) but instead it looked like a simple version of one of his charakams in white. Lea also had black gloves and normal dark pants.

Naminé went next. She had wanted hers to be white, but they all agreed that white would stand out if they were trying to sneak around. So Naminé’s outfit was gray, silver, and black with a little bit of white. Her jacket hoodie was gray and her gloves were silver. Her shirt was a plain white and her pants were black. Her helmet was the same color as her jacket. Sora couldn't see the symbol on that was on the back of ita, but he thinks that it's the picture she keeps drawing over and over again. A paopu fruit. He needed to ask her why she knew what that was.

Xion went last. Her outfit piece was apparently a bracelet. Her outfit was all black with white highlights that reminded Sora of the Tron movies. Her gloves were fully white, though, and seemed to glow. On the back was a seashell, also glowing white. Her helmet was black and shiny.

“Certain parts of each of your clothes help enhance your magic,” Xion explained.

“How about we start referring to each other by our codenames so we can get used to it?” Naminé suggested, “But only during all of this business relating to the UGPA.”

“I'm on board with that.”

“Seems like a great idea.”

“Fine.”

“Good,” Xion said, “Then the meeting's over. Go home.”

“We have things to do tomorrow, so don't stay up late,” Naminé reminded them. A chorus of “ _Yes_ _mom_ ”s followed.

Th room was packed up in seconds, all the tables and lights folding into tight boxes and all of them putting them away. Each of them left in their normal clothes, heading different directions than Vanitas and Sora.

Sora walks right next to Vanitas when they get to the normal part of the city. They both kept their heads down though. Due to them both having control over the strongest types of magic, certain people had certain reactions to them. People more aligned with darkness would usually swarm Vanitas with deals and scams but would try to pick fights with Sora. People more aligned with light would randomly come up and talk to Sora about their problems he really didn't want to hear but would stay as far away from Vanitas. Their best bet was to stick together and not look anyone in the eye.

When they got to their apartment Vanitas fell onto the couch and turned on the TV. From the kitchen, Sora could hear it talking about someone sighted in the abandoned district that could possibly be “gifted” due to their abilities while resisting arrest.

Sora took out a box of mac n’ cheese and started to make it. “Hey Vani, is the news talking about you or me?”

“It's talking about me. I _was_ the one who tried to play tag with Stormfall.”

Their apartment was quiet except for the TV, and the volume of that was turned down. Their apartment was usually quiet. Despite being brothers, Vanitas didn't usually talk to him much. It wasn't a bad thing, they just didn't need many word to communicate.

They both ate dinner while watching a random show that came on. This would be their last normal, quiet night.

“Do you think this’ll be enough of a distraction?” Sora asks as it switches to the commercials.

“Yeah. I can't wait to see the look on the Twilight Division's faces when we tell them we stole their name.”

Sora could agree on that one, as he had thought up the name himself. _The Twilight Tempest._  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Their codenames are based on certain keyblades, so see if you can guess them.
> 
> I'm not exactly sure if I did well with the outfit descriptions. I tried to limit myself to one paragraph, but if it sounds weird let me know so I can change them in the future. 
> 
> Be warned, not all chapters will be this long.


	2. How to meet an old friend and new bad guys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Contains meetings of old friends and bad guys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The point of view changes a lot in this chapter, so look for paragraphs that start with their name to tell who's point of view it is.

Kairi was Riku’s first friend when he moved to Twilight City. When she had first met him, she felt some sort of instinct telling her to turn and walk away and pray she wasn't seen. It was like a fight or flight instinct, but fight wasn't an option. It was difficult to fight it back, but that just made her all the more curious about him.

She ended up talking to him all through lunch. He didn't say much and was obviously not used to the attention.

At the time, he seemed mostly cool and collected. However some months later, Kairi was able to see just how much of a nervous wreck he was in probably the most destructive way possible. But that's getting too far ahead.

When he met Kairi, Riku had no idea why she was talking to him. Not in a bad way like he thought he was above everyone, but no one talked to him. (Maybe he was actually beneath everyone else instead?) He found that people always look away from him or never directly in the eyes, even the kids younger than him who didn't know better ran away.

Once, when Riku’s elementary school class was partnered with a younger one, the kid he was assigned to play with started screaming as soon as the teacher directed them his way. Even though the kid was screeching on the other side of the room, everyone was looking at _him_ like he did something. That was the only time when he had so many eyes on him.

Riku had remembered that day when he had met Kairi. She looked to be struggling to get words out when he first saw her, but eventually convinced him to eat lunch with her. He didn't know how, but he somehow made it through an entire conversation by replying with one word answers and shrugs. He had felt kinda nervous, all friends leave eventually, so would she.

Kairi stayed. She would talk to him before and after class, despite the primal instinct telling her to run away. Eventually, that instinct went away, and was soon replaced by the overwhelming desire to support her friend. Like the time Riku tried out for the basketball team and was turned away, or when he was skipped over as the teachers did the attendance.

In return, Riku would go along with her crazy plans and get into all kinds of minor trouble. If Kairi wasn't there, he was sure he would have probably done worse on his own.

Maybe if he was there too, they'd all be friends.

They had just started middle school when Riku discovered his abilities and had kickstarted an advance in Kairi’s. Before that incident, Kairi could use Light magic at a low level, not enough to even try to show off. She would use it to keep her plants healthy, at least, or use it to heal a small cut at most.

But after Riku awakened to his abilities and caused a reaction in Kairi’s, they were both swept up by the UGPA. They had been heroes ever since they had completed their training at the end of middle school.

It was due to Riku getting too stressed that that had happened in the first place. Kairi learned entirety of the situation Riku was placed in, she’d known him for years, and she was one of the few people he trusted.

So as Riku sat alone at the lunch table that day, he silently wondered how she could betray him like this. He could sense someone standing behind him and he had absolutely no emotional support if they decided talked to him.

“Hey, Riku!” The person walked from behind to sit across from him, but Riku could hardly believe it. The same spiky hair and blue eyes. The same grin on his face. It was Sora, the first friend he ever had.

“S-Sora?!”

“You look so different now,” Sora said, looking him up and down.

“Hopefully I do. I wouldn't want to look like a five year old like you do,” Riku said back jokingly.

“Hey, I know for a fact I don't look like a five year old. I've asked Vanitas about it too!” Riku could remember Vanitas, though just barely. Vanitas never looked away from him like a lot of people did, but he never talked to him much either.

"I thought you moved far away with your uncle, did something happen?” Riku asked.

“Just some business stuff that made us move here, but he’s out a lot and we've been given a small apartment so we can't wreck his house here,” Sora put his hands behind his head. “When did you move off the Islands?”

“A little before Middle school. I've been living next-door to my cousin's apartment,” Riku tried to hide his annoyance towards _certain people_ , but Sora must have noticed it anyways because he was quiet for a moment.

Riku took the time to think about how much had changed. He had last seen Sora when they were five. Honestly, he was surprised Sora even remembered him. Of course _Riku_ remembered Sora, how could he not? He was his first friend… among other things.

Sora seemed somehow even more empathetic than he had been. Just from his conversation so far, he’s seen Sora's all-fixing grin waver. Sora had changed, he could tell just by looking. But it wasn't a bad thing, it just would take some getting used to.

“Are we still friends?” Sora asks so quietly Riku almost didn't hear the question over his thinking. But are they? They haven't seen each other in years, Riku barely remembers half the things they did in the past, and for some reason his brain held on to that first friend.

“Of course we are.” Sora grinned and Riku couldn't help but smile back.

 _Beep-beep._ Sora’s phone went off. He checked it and rolled his eyes.

“Vani needs to talk to me, so I have to go. Let's hang out after school sometime, alright?”

Riku nods, “Yeah, sure.”

Riku watches as Sora leaves the cafeteria. Sora's still as bright and cheerful as ever, so maybe it's just him that's changed. Sora was strong enough to never change from that happy self, so maybe he was just imagining things.

He heard the sound of Kairi plopping down in front of him. He turns to face her with a look of betrayal on his face but all she gives is a grin.

“See? You did fine without me!”

In response, Riku laid his head on the table, ignoring her. Childish, but necessary for revenge. Kairi couldn't handle the silent treatment.

“Oh, come on! He was just asking around aimlessly for you. I couldn't let a lost puppy not find its way home, could I?”

Riku continued ignoring her. If he had actually been looking at her face, he would've seen the smirk slowly spreading across her face.

“You know,” she said in an innocent tone, “I didn't know you had cute friends like that. You should've told me, Riku.”

At that Riku got up and left the table, his face was bright red. He walked out of the door, throwing away food wrappers on the way, and walked to the emptiest hallway he could find because Kairi would be right behind him.

Kairi called after him, “Aw, Riku, it was a joke! I'm sorry if I made you feel bad!” He walked so fast, she couldn't keep up. What was wrong? Usually he would just say some sarcastic retort about Kairi trying to set him up with someone again (which she totally was- but only because he mentioned it). But this time, he just left. He didn't seem mad at her. Wait a second…

“You have a crush on him!” Kairi ran up and basically tackled him and shoved him into the wall, pinning him underneath her arm. If he wanted to, he could easily get push her away, but Riku got defensive verbally.

“It was when we were five!”

“So he was your _first_ crush!”

“W-Well, yeah, but I didn't know what that was at the time!”

“Doesn't make it any less adorable…”

“That doesn't matter. Besides, I don't like him like _that_ anymore, too much time has passed.” Wanting to get the last word, Kairi released him.

“But you still think he’s cute.”

Before Riku could try to get a word of defense in again, their watches beeped. Both of them snapped to attention. A small projected screen from Riku’s watch told them where the trouble was.

_Location: Twilight City Bank_

_Issue: Bank Holdup_

_Perpetrators: Unknown_

_More info to be relayed upon arrival._

Kairi silently swore to herself that she would continue this conversation later.

Riku opened the door to an empty classroom. When they first started fieldwork, Riku thought it would be easier if they both wore their outfits underneath their normal clothes so it would be A) faster and B) less awkward.

Kairi was finished first. Despite her outfit being almost entirely pink and black, it looked made more in terms of practicalness than style. With camo-like pants and hiking boots as well as a white shirt and a jacket. Everything she wore was easy to move in and durable because, well, that was her role called for.

Riku’s outfit had more blue and black on it with a bit of white. The jacket and fingerless gloves he wore were white with black patterns on it, his pants and boots were black and accented with light blue. He also wore a sort of black blindfold, which was incredibly different compared to the mask Kairi wore that covered half of her face. Riku could "see" through his blindfold, but no one could see his eyes. No one could tell it was him because of that and the fact that he let his hair down instead of being in his usual ponytail or bun.

With that done, they shoved their taken off clothes into their bags, and Kairi grabbed Riku’s hand. Riku teleported to the school roof.

Kairi’s experience with teleporting was always weird. It was like feeling really cold and really warm all in the span of a millisecond. In the next moment they had thrown their bags in the corner of the roof and were back to teleporting to the City Bank.

The next time Kairi opened her eyes, Riku was leading her along by the hand toward the entrance of the bank. They went full-on superhero mode, Kairi was Destiny Keeper and Riku was Daybreak.

Sirens from police cars and people who wanted to see what's going on filling the scene. As they approached, Riku let go of her hand and turned his head to the side for a moment, then continued up to the rest of the team.

Kairi thought for a moment as she caught up with him. Was that supposed to be a wink? She really hoped he realized she couldn't see his eyes. (He did, because a second later he facepalmed.)

They approached the rest of the Twilight Division. The rest of their team consisted of Oblivion/Roxas, Wayward/Ventus, Stormfall/Aqua, and Earthshaker/Terra (Riku always thought Terra’s alias was too revealing). They were all friends outside of superhero business. 

“Daybreak,” Aqua greeted him by his alias, “As you can see, we have a situation. There are five individuals with helmets who have taken up hold inside. But they don't seem to be stealing anything, just keeping hostages.”

“Do they want to negotiate?” Kairi asked.

“We haven't heard anything from them about a negotiation,” Roxas answered her. He looked around, then pulled her to the side away from the gathering crowd. “Listen, Destiny, these guys might be some Gifted that the UGPA missed.”

“How is that possible? We recruit people as soon as there's a trace of magic.”

“If I knew how it happened, I would have told you,” she could see him roll his blue eyes behind his black mask, “But that's not what I'm talking about.  None of us have faced another Gifted outside of sparring, so if you feel like you’re overdoing it, let us know. I'm not saying to stay back this time, just be careful.”

Kairi grimaced. She remembered her last mission, where they busted a gang hideout. She had strained herself by trying to keep up a barrier of light while bullets pounded on it like a hailstorm from in front, behind, and above. She had almost passed out from the effort of keeping them up. (Her stress from school had distracted her, and she put too much magic into her shields and tired herself out.)

“I'll be fine. You just do your thing and I'll watch your back. Just like usual, right?”

“Right. Now let's focus.”

They met up with the rest of the group. Riku organized their team. Destiny Keeper in the front, Earthshaker bringing up the back, Oblivion and Wayward in attack positions, Daybreak and Stormfall in magical attack positions.

They entered the building together, positioning the police squad sent in earlier as support. They were all ready for an attack or negotiation. There were innocent people in the building, so that would need to be taken care of first.

Riku made the preparations in his head. He was chosen as the leader of the division due to his magic skills and high scores on his MOA test. Using both Light and Dark magic got him to his position, but he hadn't even earned it yet. He had to prove he was worth it.

Inside, they faced five figures in helmets. The building had a lounge area for people to wait on the left side, lines on the floor leading up to the help windows, and  four pillars keeping the roof of the building supported. The hostages seemed to be nowhere to be found.

“If you're looking for the people, they're gone,” the one in the red told them, gesturing with his thumb behind him, “We released them through the back as soon as you came inside, whoever's out there should have them about now. That is, assuming you have the place surrounded.”

“What is your goal here?” Riku asked.

“Right now?” the one in dark gray said, “We just want to talk.”

“Allow us to introduce ourselves,” the one in the gray and white said, “I’m Chainbrake. But with a brake like a vehicle, make sure the newscasters know that much.”

“Inflame,” said the guy in red.

The guy with the dark gray helmet waved, “No Name.”

The Tron-looking one said, “Oath.”

“Void,” said the last. To Riku, he actually looked like a supervillian from a movie.

“We’re not here to talk,” Aqua spoke up, “Taking hostages is still a crime. And you are still disrupting the peace we've worked hard for!”

“Hey! Didn't see that you were here, Storm,” Void said, “Remember me? We played tag yesterday.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aqua frown. So _Void_ was the one she failed to catch.

“Surrender peacefully, we don't want a fight,” Riku stepped in.

“Neither do we,” No Name stepped up to match him. Riku couldn't help but notice that he was taller than the criminal. “We just want to talk.”

“You've lost anything you had to negotiate,” Terra said somewhat calmly, “Without a threat, we have no reason to listen to any demands you have.”

Riku mentally facepalmed, now they would purposefully put innocent people in danger.

“Oh really, huh?” the one who called himself Inflame said. “Looks like we _are_ looking for a fight then, are we?”

“Regrettably so,” Oath sighed.

Riku raised an eyebrow, most villains seemed eager to fight them. To test their ungifted strength against theirs, or to try to scare them off or act tough. These villains seemed not to want anything to do with it. It made sense, he could feel magic radiating off of them.

“We can talk while we fight. What better way to get a point across than punching someone in the pace?” Void said eagerly.

“When you put it that way, you actually make sense,” Chainbrake was taking a few steps back. In fact, he noticed, they all were.

Riku raised a closed fist into the air to tell the team to be on guard.

Oath swiped one hand to the left, as if moving something out of the way.

At first it seemed like nothing had happened, but then there was a loud explosion sound, dust and small debris flew up from all sides, and everything was plunged into Darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They call it magic because scientists haven't figured out how it works yet. 
> 
> I didn't mention this earlier, but Xion goes by she/they and it'll switch every chapter they're in.
> 
> Did ya notice that not-really-a-cliffhanger I left for ya? So yeah I had no idea where to cut off thus chapter, so I just cut it off. 
> 
> There will be more detailed descriptions of the rest of the Twilight Division's outfits later. 
> 
> Lastly, next chapter you'll see their magical abilities and stuff in the next chapter. So far all you guys have gotten was a small glimpse of the bigger picture, so stay tuned!
> 
> Constructive criticism is encouraged.


	3. Sora negotiates and Naminé shines whenever she can

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heroes and Villains

As planned, Vanitas covered the place in Dark magic. They all regrouped to lay out who was fighting who. Technically, they were outnumbered, but Lea and Vanitas were probably the best options to take on two, but if something happened Xion could take many on for a short amount of time before they got tired. 

The Twilight Division didn't make a move. The sound of sirens and a helicopter circling around could be heard outside pretty clearly, the wall must've collapsed, but the Dark magic prevented any sunlight from getting in.

Vanitas lunged first. Destiny Keeper, who was in the front, created a barrier of Light and pushed it his way to pin him. He dodged it by rolling under it as it flew to crash into the wall. The barrier stayed there, illuminating the space just enough to see. So that had been their plan, huh? The fight was so  _ on _ . 

Sora found himself locked in combat with Daybreak. He was struggling due to the overwhelming Darkness, but since it wasn't offensive he could at least use general magic. Daybreak, however seemed to be perfectly fine. His movements were swift and he conducted the Darkness around him, but Sora could tell he was moving it carefully. There was his opening.

“That's pretty cool, what the UGPA teaches you. Mind sharing?” Sora said, dodging a jab from the dark swirling mass behind. Daybreak fought differently with Dark magic than Vanitas did, Sora noted. While Vanitas used it as an extension of himself, he concentrated it as an entirely different entity and kept it far away. 

Sora aimed a kick for his side and barely nicked him, but that was enough to test a little bit of Light magic in this type of situation. Daybreak had barely reacted to it, but that made sense because Sora's Light Magic was weakened. 

That's when he realized, he could tell the difference between Daybreak’s attacks and Vanitas’s Darkness because Daybreak was using his own. The reason he controlled it so carefully was so he didn't hurt himself. He couldn't rely on Vanitas’s Darkness, it was too uncontrollable and unpredictable. If Daybreak didn't want to get hurt from his own magic, then that meant he could use Light as well.

Sora jumped backwards, taking a pause. “It took me a while to figure it out, and I still don't understand it completely, but now I know what to do. So thanks for that.” 

Daybreak, who still hadn't responded to any of Sora's words, seemed to watch him carefully in the dim light, on guard. Sora knew he might ruin their advantage, but he put up a barrier of Light to protect his back and another one in behind Daybreak. 

He made a circle around the both of them with Light. The more Light he used, the stronger it was, as the Darkness around decreased. 

“What are you planning?” Daybreak asked in a low, threatening voice. 

“I'm not telling…” Sora Lightly tapped on the barrier next to him. It broke, turning into shards like glass. All aimed forward. Daybreak paused.

“That's impossible.”

“Really? I guess you're education actually needs a bit of an update update.” It was kind of fun trying to play the elusive villain, but his last statement was honest. Who knew controlling Light like he did was rare? “That's good to know, though. I would teach you if you weren't my enemy right now, so maybe later? But if you don’t want-”

“Aren't you going to attack?” Daybreak cut him off. Why would Sora attack? Oh. He had him  _ cornered _ .

The Light made it ineffective to use darkness in this space he created, and Daybreak just revealed he couldn't use Light offensively. Sora had him cornered, whether that was his intent or not.

“No wait, you've got it wrong! I just want to talk.” Maybe the others in the group would try to manipulate or trick him, but that wasn't in Sora’s nature. That was the reason they decided on him to negotiate with the other side. 

Daybreak paused, “Like I'd believe that. You're just waiting for me to drop my guard.” He motioned to the Light shards floating in the air. 

“Oh, right. Forgot about that.” With a flick of his hand, the shards disappeared. “If your worried about me attacking, how about we come to a temporary truce? Today's my debut day, so I have no grudges and you don't either.” 

“If I agree to this truce, it is just between the two of us. Our teams can continue fighting, and if you ask questions, I get to ask my own.”

“Deal.” Sora hoped this truce could last long enough for Naminé’s part of the plan.

If he focused hard enough, he could hear the distinct sounds of different people fighting. Vanitas’s taunting, and the snappy remarks of Destiny Keeper and Wayward as they fight are to his left. Behind Daybreak he can hear Lea taunting as well. He was supposed to be fighting Stormfall and Earthshaker, Sora hoped he could hold them off for longer. Xion was supposed to be fighting Oblivion to his right. They didn't speak, but he could hear fighting. The sound of Naminé’s dramatic-esque flourish while fighting can't be heard. Good, she’s in position.

Sora asks the first question, “What is the UGPA’s goal?”

“To make the world a safer place for everyone. Those who are Gifted and those who are not,” Daybreak said easily. 

Sora rolled his eyes even though Daybreak couldn't see them, “I wasn't talking about your tagline, but I'm sure you believe in it. I'll let you think on that question though. Here's another one, what are they're doing experiments for?”

“The same thing they say to the public, learning about Gifted people and how to treat and care for their injuries-” 

“Where do most of their injuries come from?” Sora interrupted. He knew all the answers to these questions they had prepared, but he needed the Division to realize it themselves. 

Daybreak visibly stiffened at the question. “That’s classified,” he said in a threatening tone.  _ So he doesn't know… _ Now Sora kinda felt bad for him, good thing they had a plan. 

Sora couldn't see his eyes, but he could tell Daybreak wasn't looking at him. He was probably thinking and trying to piece it together. 

“My turn for questions now,” he finally said, “Are you the leader of your little group?”

“No. We have no official leader, I'm just the best negotiator,” Sora said honestly. 

“What is your goal?” 

“To take down the UGPA.”

“How basic,” Daybreak sneered.

“That’s our job as the villains, having basic goals and complicated plans.”

“Your little team wants to defeat the Association? Go ahead, you’ll be stopped by every Gifted human being in the world. But that would mean you'd have to avoid getting arrested, which you won't.”

_ Not every Gifted, _ Sora wanted to say,  _ There are plenty of us like this. All of them wouldn't even get in the way of someone trying to get rid of the UGPA. _ But Sora stuck to the plan.

“You think a lot of them, but trust me when I say you shouldn't waste your time.” Sora shattered the barriers of Light that had been surrounding them and the room was dark yet again. The only light being a single barrier left as the signal. “The truce is over, but if you want to hit me up on that offer to teach you, that'd be fine.” 

Daybreak, realizing they were about to escape materialized his dark magic and attacked. Dark smoky tendrils surrounded Sora and lifted him off the ground. 

Sora cursed in his mind, trying to free his arms. The Dark had a tight hold on him, but it was restraining him rather than attacking. Good, he couldn't afford to feel sick at the moment. 

He wiggled his right arm loose and went to work on his other, but Darkness grabbed his arm. He wasn't worried, though, because it was Vanitas. 

“Nice going, dumbass. Need help?” Vanitas called as he rushed away from his own fight. Another black tendril shot for Vanitas this time, but he sidestepped and grabbed it, forcing it to turn the opposite direction with a precise throw. It got the expected result. Daybreak fell, coughing, and Sora dropped to the ground in a crouch.

He pounded on the ground with an open hand as he landed, sending out a wave of raw magic. A simple move that anyone with magic could do, but Sora’s was laced with Light. Enough so that it had a greater effect, but not enough that you could tell unless you were on the receiving end of the blow. 

The intended group of people were pushed back. The Tempest met up with Vanitas and Sora. 

“Oath, did you send word to Chainbrake?” Lea asked. 

“I did, she should be here any-” 

There was a loud crash through the wall behind them. Sora ducked to avoid flying debris. When the dust settled a few seconds later, he looked up and saw a large black van sitting in a gaping hole in the wall in perfect condition, like it hadn't just crashed through a wall. And in the front seat was Naminé, who was acting like  _ she  _ hadn't just crashed through a wall. 

“ _ Oh yeah! _ ” she yelled in a deeper voice, pumping a fist into the air. Sora’s only really seen her this hyped when she makes a reference to something (he'd have to ask later). They all started to climb inside.

“Who are you guys!?” Wayward shouted after them as the Division started to rise from the floor.

Xion, the last one to get in, responded, “Much like you, we are a group that is in Twilight, both good and bad. But unlike you, we aren’t a part of a greater whole, just a violent storm of our own making. A tempest whose set course is in your direction. Today was just the warning sirens. Therefore, I say goodbye from the Twilight Tempest to the Division; may we meet again on better or worse terms.” 

That's when Sora realized that Xion probably was in a drama class or something with Naminé, since they were both overdramatic in drastically  different ways. He could bet that Xion had planned that speech out beforehand, it was so like them, but Naminé came crashing through the wall as a last minute decision. 

Naminé backed out of the building quickly and sped down the street. They all settled down on the floor of the back part of the van, positioning themselves at the sides. It was pretty spacious in the back, they all had enough room to spread out and hop that Naminé would lose the police.

“Man,” Vanitas grumbled, “I kinda wish we actually robbed that bank.”

“Probably could've done it, but it would take a lot longer to build up our image afterwards,” Naminé said. 

“The only reason I picked a bank is because we needed a place the police would quickly respond to. Otherwise we could have easily done a business building,” Xion explained. Naminé spun the car left to avoid a police blockade as they each tried to find something to hold on to.

“That makes sense, people care more about money then they do about other people,” Lea said in a tone that sounded like he was speaking from experience. 

“Hey Naminé,” Sora quickly changed the subject as the car jerked to the right on a turn, “Are there any police chasing us?” 

“Not really, a helicopter is though. I bet they're looking to follow us back to our hideout or block the way there. Any hideouts we don't need nearby?”

“There’s one at three-seven,” Vanitas said, typing something on his phone, “The short green building. There's a passage from there that leads to the center hideout.” 

Naminé turned east at the next intersection, heading toward the abandoned district. Vanitas pulled up the news on his phone, it showed a bird's eye view of the car. 

_ “Police are currently in pursuit of an unlicensed car that is said to hold the suspects of a bank holdup,” _ a woman’s voice reported,  _ “Earlier today, UGPA agents were sent in to deal with a hostage situation, however the people were released the minute they stepped inside. Parts of the building later collapsed as fighting was heard inside.  _

_ “The suspects are believed to be Gifted as well, but that is the only information authorities have released to the public. People suspect that these may be rouge UGPA agents themselves. More on that later.” _

Everyone else in the entire world calls them Superheroes, but in documents and in broadcasts it is required that they be called “agents.” Sora preferred it that way. It showed that these people were just workers- just people who enacted the will of their superiors. 

“If people are gonna go into a frenzy over this, I wonder what'll happen when we actually start doing good things,” Lea said. 

“I can see the conspiracy theorists already,” Sora grinned.

Despite the idle chatting, they were all reminded of the situation they were in by every sharp turn Naminé made. 

“Hey, can I drive?” Lea asked to Naminé. 

“Not yet,” she said as the car went around a sharp turn. Lea seemed surprised she actually considered it, nevermind had a plan.

They weren't even that close to the hideout. Their original plan had been to lose the cops before heading back, that's why they were taking a lot of corners, but now they had no way of doing that. The cops were purposefully keeping their range as they tailed them, probably so they would think they lost them. They hadn't planned for that. Luckily, Naminé did.

“Okay,” she said, “We’re going to swap places in three, two, one!” Quickly, Lea sat down in the driver’s seat and took them around another corner. Naminé looked to Xion, who nodded. 

“Okay, Vanitas, we need you to teleport us with your Darkness.”

“That's pretty damn difficult in a fast moving van. I wouldn't be able to easily surround the entire van in darkness from the inside.”

“Then we go outside,” Naminé pulled out one of Xion’s devices. 

She pressed the button on it and let it fall to the floor. The box opened, revealing many parts that were folded up. In just seconds it remade itself into a motorcycle. 

“So cool! Since when-”

“Be surprised later, Sora,” Naminé cut him off, “Vanitas, get on.”

They opened the back doors of the van and Naminé rode out with Vanitas on the back. Sora contacted them through his earpiece. 

“What's your plan?” 

“Just to go around on either side and have Vani here wrap the car in darkness so we can teleport.”

“Well, uh, guys we have a problem up ahead,” Lea said. Sora moved to the front of the van. There was a barricade of Light up head. Standing there was Daybreak and Destiny Keeper. 

“Their magic’s strong, so they must be boosting each other up. There's no way we'd be able to get through with Vani’s Darkness alone, just focus on teleporting us out,” Sora said seriously. Despite the situation, Sora couldn't help but admire the heroes’ strength together. While the Tempest was a group of different skills that worked off each other, the Division could build each other up more easily with having to be cautious of hurting each other. 

Sora saw Naminé drive over to their left side after finishing the right. 

 

“Are you almost done?” Xion asked. 

“Yeah almost,” Naminé was the one that answered, “As soon as we jump back in the van, all sides will be covered in Darkness, meaning Lea needs to be careful so we can get out safely.”

Lea nodded, “Gotcha.”

Vanitas jumped off the motorcycle first and Sora helped pull him in so he didn't get run over by it afterward. Vanitas told Xion to wait in front of the back door seconds before Naminé pressed a button that folded up the motorcycle and sent her flying forward into the van and right into them.

“Guys, we’re really cuttin’ it close here-” Lea was cut off by the entire van being filled with Darkness. 

Just like any other time Sora had teleported with Vanitas, he felt extremely sick afterwards. They all found themselves still in the van but on a completely different road, right in front of a short green building.

Vanitas thought it incredibly amusing that Xion and Naminé were still on the floor, but helped Xion up regardless as Sora helped Naminé. They all got out of the van and Xion made it fold into a box about the size of a textbook. They each dismissed their outfits and, after an agreement to talk later and a farewell, each of them went their separate ways. 

Sora tried to act like he wasn't as dizzy as he felt, but of course Vanitas noticed. 

“If you keep doing that you're going to pass out, dumbass.”

Sora grinned, “So you  _ do _ care about your little bro.” 

Vanitas ignored Sora’s remark, “Do you think you can wait to pass out after another teleport? I'm too lazy to walk home.” 

Sora shook his head. Vanitas was tired, he could see that giving and transporting an entire van with the people inside took a lot out of him. If Vanitas couldn't hold it for long enough they might just end up in the middle of traffic.

“You'll pass out, too.”

“Only after we get there. Let's go.” 

Without further argument, Darkness surrounded them both and brought them to their apartment’s living room. Without another word they both collapsed onto the couch, dead asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know when I said every chapter won't be as long as that first one? Apparently I lied because I don't know how to fucking stop writing.
> 
> Vani was born 14 hours before Sora, therefore making him the oldest (They were still born on the same day tho).
> 
> Naminé was referencing the Kool Aid Man as he bursts through the wall yelling "OH YEAH!"
> 
> Expect more memes.
> 
> Expect actual memes.
> 
> Expect me to actually explain their fighting styles more in the future instead of having to cut it off bc it's too long. 
> 
> Expect Sora, Riku, and Kairi to hang out more in the future.
> 
> Edit: Forgot to say to expect more character interaction in general
> 
> Constructive criticism is encouraged!!


	4. Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's so different. It provides fun and stress and worries in a totally new way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter took so fucking long because it's so fucking long.
> 
> enjoy.

**_-Naminé-_ **

 

Naminé’s mother had a twin. For both her and her twin, there was a strong belief that they should do everything together. Their aspirations were similar, their jobs, and they hung out together a lot. Naminé saw that it was fitting that they should die in the same car accident together. 

That sounds morbid, but at the time as an almost four-year-old girl, it just made sense. Being sent off to her grandmother’s house along with her cousin was easy. She had no attachment to her home even though she spent all her time there. Even years later she could remember the bare white walls, neat rooms, and high ceilings she was left in whenever her mom went to hang out with her adult friends.

When her aunt came over with their friends, Naminé and her cousin Kairi were forced into another room to play. When she looked back on it, she realized it was the reason they were almost like sister's themselves. It was probably the only good thing their mothers had done for them among all the useless others.

Naminé stared at her sketchbook, trying to memorize the image she created. Two figures on a motorcycle with helmets that covered their faces, Dark magic coming from the fingertips of the one on the back. She could barely believe it had only been an hour since then.

Since they began the Tempest, she feels more unhinged and open. Even in basic meetings she felt a sort of drop to reality when it was over. The only way to describe it was like going off of a step that was higher up than you thought it was. And with a heist it was like going off of a cliff- jarring and surprising that she even landed in tact. She easily slipped from loud and dramatic to embarrassed and easily flustered, never sure which one was actually her.

Taking a sip off coffee, she ran her hand over the paper and made the motorcycle start moving, the buildings in the background passing behind it as it sped down the street. She was amused as she made it do a sharp turn around a corner and the Vanitas figure cuss her out silently for it. Then the thought came into her brain again.

If she could trick the human brain into remembering the situation differently as it is happening, then why couldn't she do the same for the past? She could easily delve deeper into the brain and crack open it's secrets like she could on a computer.  _ No, bad Naminé _ . It would be cruel to do that to people, it would be  _ torture _ . But she's one of the villains, so maybe she should learn how- just in case, of course. 

However, she would need a willing test subject. Sora would work. 

The bell of the café chimed and Naminé looked up, creating an illusion of a blank page. Kairi waved from the door and came over. 

“You know, Riku mentioned this place. His cousin works here,” she paused, then shook her head, “Then again, I think he has a late shift.” 

Naminé just nodded and started grabbing her things. Then stopped, glancing at Kairi with slightly alarmed eyes. Kairi looked exhausted, like she'd just ran a lap around the entire city. She looked as if she just woke up- her eyes droopy and her gaze was unfocused. Naminé had only felt that tired when she used too much magic in one day.

“What the hell do they do to you at that school? You look terrible.”

“Trust me I know. It's been a  _ really _ long day,” Kairi yawned, “Wait a sec, I'm gonna use the bathroom.”

Naminé sat back down. She and Kairi always find a new place to meet up before heading home since they go to different schools. Naminé actually requested to go to a different school, since her own abilities seemed to be affected whenever they are in the same place for a long time (it's actually why Kai thought the house was haunted for three years). For some reason, just being near her made Naminé’s illusions become much harder to control, like they were boosted. She wasn't used to using that level of power, maybe she should train.

Having nothing better to do, she opened her texts on the phone Xion modified for her. 

_ +4 others _

_ \--- changed their name to Oath. _

_ Oath changed ~~~’s name to No Name _

_ Oath changed ___’s name to Chainbrake _

_ Oath changed @’s name to Inflame _

_ Oath changed ***’s name to Void _

**_Oath:_ ** _ I probably should have done that earlier. _

**_Chainbrake:_ ** _ has anyone seen the twins? i honestly thought they would be blowing up my texts by now asking me about the motorcycle. _

**_Inflame:_ ** _ Probably sleeping _

**_Inflame:_ ** _ It happens when their powers clash too much _

**_Inflame:_ ** _ Probably teleported home too like idiots and passed the fuck out _

**_Oath:_ ** _ How do you know so much about their abilities? _

**_Inflame:_ ** _ Ive worked with them for a while _

**_Inflame:_ ** _ They never told you did they _

**_Inflame:_ ** _ I work from their uncle _

**_Chainbrake:_ ** _ whomst??? _

**_Inflame:_ ** _ for* _

**_Inflame:_ ** _ Also im not telling  _

**_Chainbrake:_ ** _ i could just look it up you know. _

**_Inflame:_ ** _ Bad idea _

**_Chainbrake:_ ** _ now i’m tempted. _

**_Inflame:_ ** _ Dont _

**_Inflame:_ ** _ This isn’t something you want to mess with. Get that memorized. _

**_Chainbrake:_ ** _ wow. using correct punctuation must mean business. _

**_Oath:_ ** _ What type of terrifying place do you work for? And why didn’t you ever tell me? _

**_Inflame:_ ** _ It never came up _

**_Oath:_ ** _ That's a stupid excuse. _

**_Oath:_ ** _ I thought we were best friends, this is betrayal. _

**_Oath:_ ** _ I'm leaving. _

**_Chainbrake:_ ** _ are you leaving to the country? _

**_Oath:_ ** _ Yes. I'm never going to see any of you ever again. _

**_Chainbrake:_ ** _ so wouldn’t that make it…  _

**_Chainbrake:_ ** _ betray’all? _

**_Inflame:_ ** _ Get out _

**_Chainbrake:_ ** _ understandable, have a nice day. _

Naminé put her phone away and grabbed her coffee as Kairi came over. With a nod, they headed to the bus stop.

Outside of heists, she felt like more of an audience member than a performer. But she was fine with listening and watching when there was nothing she could do. So she walks with Kairi as she talks about the boy Riku had gotten flustered over, only adding in simple questions to let her know she was listening.

“What was his name?” Naminé asked.

“Sora.” 

Naminé spat out her drink, laughing, much to Kairi’s surprise.  _ Oh man, that’s rich _ , Naminé thought,  _ Who knew the world was that small?  _ She wouldn't tell anyone, not yet, but she knew that Vanitas would probably tease Sora to no end. Then Naminé re-thought that statement, he'd probably just laugh about it. 

“I'm guessing you know him?” Kairi asked. 

“Kairi.  _ Everyone _ knows Sora,” Naminé said in a “duh _ ” _ tone.

“Well I didn't. Besides he only moved here like a month ago.” 

_ No he didn't, _ Naminé thought. “He makes friends easily,” she said instead.

“And I'm guessing you’re his friend too?”

“One of his  _ best _ ,” Naminé responded like it was an accomplishment (which it pretty much was; To be so high up on his list of friends when he cares about all those people should get a reward). 

“How come you never tell me these things?” Kairi pouted.

“You never ask,” she answered simply. 

Kairi stopped. Naminé stopped along with her. Did she say something wrong? Her cousin looked a upset, was that her fault?

“Did I-”

“Nami, you have to tell me when I do that. Don't just let me drone on about myself because what's going on in your life matters too.” 

“Sorry.”

“Ugh, don't say that. You shouldn't be sorry that I'm being an ass.” 

Despite Kairi’s efforts, Naminé had no idea why she was making such a big deal. Sure she didn't talk about her own life much, but that was because half of it was illegal. She wished her cousin could at least see that maybe she didn't like talking in the slow days of reality, but in the rush of the Tempest. But that was probably a really bad idea. So Naminé continued walking along with Kairi

“You're not an ass, just…  _ expressive _ . I'm more interested in your life, things happen to you all the time so it’s interesting.” 

Kairi frowned, “Fine. If you'd rather have it be that way.” 

“I would, actually.” Naminé didn't look at her cousin’s face.

“You can open up to me any time, you know…” 

“I know,” she stared straight on ahead.

The rest on the conversation was spent one-sided, as Naminé continued listening. Her cousin had made an effort to try to include her more in the conversation after that, but Naminé kept to clipped responses. 

The conversation had gone quiet by the time they got to the bus stop. Naminé sat on the green bench, watching the people pass, committing each of their faces to memory before trying to sketch them lightly. It was a good exercise for her memory and a good practice for drawing all in one. 

 

**_-Xion-_ **

 

Xion regrets telling Vanitas about their crush on Naminé. Seriously why the fuck did they think that was a good idea? Why was it that the second they thought Vanitas was a good person, he decided to fuck it up? 

Well they wouldn't let his meddling get in the way of their work. In fact, it helped them when making things specifically for him. They now had a few new features added to his modified untraceable phone (MUP) and can see what he's typing in real time to stop him from saying anything embarrassing in the group chat. 

They also could rope him along to coming with them to the mall to buy supplies, no matter how much he complains. 

“Xion, I'm tired from yesterday. Why do you always drag  _ me _ along?”

“Why are you so whiny today?” Xion handed him another bundle of wires.

Vanitas rolled his eyes, “Would you rather me be an asshole?”

They thought for a moment. Vanitas had made an effort to be a less terrorizing human being when she met him. But before that… from what Sora said, it wasn't good. Xion shook their head, “Stay whiny.”

“Good choice.” 

They walked over to a kitchen supplyware store. For small parts or certain shaped parts, Xion liked to use regular items that have already been made, the rest of their metals came from a scrapyard just outside the western city limits.

“How do you expect me to hold all this?” He gestured, the tools and equipment rattling in the bags he was holding. 

Xion looked down at their list again. They needed more computer chips. They’d head over to the next store soon. “I believe you can figure out a way.”

Xion stopped, their head starting to hurt. The light in the store was too bright all of a sudden. They began to bring their hand up to cover their eyes, but quickly put it back down. They were fine, it was just a dull throb. They could handle it, things were fine. They looked up with a nudge from Vanitas.

“Can we hurry up? I want to get out of here as soon as I can.” 

Xion rolled their eyes, forgetting about the pain for now. If they forgot about the pain then they could force themself to stop copying Vanitas’s abilities. 

“The store is across the mall, so let's go.” 

They bought their things and walked out with Vanitas (who was carrying all the bags) in tow. About halfway to the store, they saw the food court. Xion allowed a small detour to get some early lunch. Xion chose the place they should get food from. 

“The fish place?” Vanitas made a face, “If you say so.”

“What? Is it not up to your culinary standards, Mr. Chef?”

“I'm not going to finish this conversation.” 

“Since when did cooking become a sore subject for you?”

Vanitas ignored them and went to wait in line, Xion rolled their eyes and followed. The line was surprisingly long, so it must have been good. They both ordered the same thing on the menu since it was pretty much the only thing on the menu they could recognise, and sat down at a table away from people. 

Xion leaned back in their chair. They had requested a to-go box since they knew they wouldn't be that hungry. So they just watched Vanitas as he prepared to take a bite of the trout. 

“You look like you just poisoned the food and you're waiting for me to start dying,” Vanitas pointed out.

“Who said I didn't?” they grinned. Shaking his head he took a bite, and contemplated it. Xion waited eagerly for his review. 

“It’s pretty salty and dry for a freshwater fish.”

“How do you even know that?” Xion grinned.

“Can't a guy have a hobby and google search?”

“And here I thought you spent your time stealing candy from small children. Who knew?”

“You do that one time…” Vanitas didn't finish as he saw how Xion gripped onto the metal handles of their seat with a pained expression. 

No. They could do this. Vanitas could control his darkness, why couldn't they do it too? It's only gotten worse each time they were around one Gifted person. It was fine when they were around multiple gifted people, their body would try to mimic several people’s abilities at once and cancel itself out if they didn't choose one. 

But copying another’s ability doesn't come with the ability to easily control it, making it difficult to be around Vanitas or Sora or alone for long periods of time, since their particular powers are overbearing. It should have gotten easier, but it only got more and more difficult each time.

“What did you do now?” Vanitas asked. 

Their brain felt foggy, it took Xion a moment to register what he was saying. “I hung out with you way too much for today,” they decided to say.

A look came to Vanitas’s face that they couldn't recognize and he said something they couldn't register. Then grabbed the bags and the take-out box of fish with one hand and dragged Xion by the arm with the other. Xion closed their eyes and let him pull them out of the mall. 

For less than a second, they felt weightless, like being pulled from all sides except for below. They felt like the could float higher and higher and never stop. But that was ruined by another wave of pain, not only through their head, but their entire body. Then their feet were on solid ground once again. 

“If you don't open your eyes you're gonna fall off the roof.” 

Roof? Since when did…? Xion opened their eyes and stumbled back away from the edge, falling on the concrete floor. They looked up to where Vanitas was, and found that he was wearing his Tempest outfit.

“You might want to put on your outfit. Someone’s probably tracing our magic signal and they'll probably be here in a few minutes. Get up.” 

Xion dizzily sat up and commanded their own outfit on. Since usually they could only use weak general magic, so they weren't used to their outfit being formed in darkness. It made their head feel a bit better, though.

“You're overwhelmed. Stop holding it in, you'll just make it worse,” Vanitas said it like it was the most obvious thing ever, which it probably was. 

Slowly, they released their weakening hold on their copied darkness, and watched as it swirled up and around them. It made whisps and patterns and shapes that Xion loosely controlled. It turned from looking like black sand to dark tendrils of smoke. Xion thought it was pretty as the fog in their brain started to clear. They stood up shakily.

Then suddenly the darkness around them moved toward Vanitas. It swirled around him as if it was just a extra limb. He had full control, unlike Xion.

It was like a weight was being lifted, or like getting a breath of fresh air. The light that was shining brightly from the morning sun didn't hurt anymore. Then they heard the sirens. 

“They’re almost here, we should leave when they see us,” Vanitas said, sounding smug, “Lets make sure they know that they're losing.” 

Xion turned out to face the front of the mall. A small crowd gathered, watching what they would do next. These people had never seen magic before in their lives, the Association didn't allow it. Quickly, Xion got rid of the topic while it still was on their mind.

The authorities saw them both and immediately opened fire once the civilians were out of the way. Vanitas put up a barrier of Darkness, the bullets ricocheted off.

“Looks like they have orders to shoot on sight. They must know what we’re trying to do,” Xion said.

“Good thing they actually don't,” Vanitas replied. Xion feels confused. Sora and Vanitas were the ones who basically started their group and had said what they'd be doing would be in three stages. So far, Xion only knew what the first stage was, which was irritating at best. Especially since everyone else in the group seems to know.

Xion glanced over to Vanitas, who seemed to be struggling with something. Then, he dropped the barrier and teleported them out. 

Xion felt weightless again for that tiny amount of time. Even with their eyes open this time, they still see the same thing. Pitch black darkness. 

They find that they had arrived at one of the hideouts. Vanitas was nowhere to be seen, but the absence of the overbearing darkness makes Xion a little bit grateful that he did leave. The shopping bags were next to them on the floor so she picked them up, deactivated her Tempest gear, and headed for home.

It's only when Xion gets back to the empty house that they realized it. Vanitas hadn't said anything rude about their crush today. He was whiny but that was him trying to be better. 

Xion decided they would try too.

 

**_-Kairi-_ **

 

Kairi had no idea how she pulled it off. With how much she was teasing him the other day, she thought Riku wouldn't be willing to. But somehow -maybe her charm, luck, or something from above- she made plans for the three of them to hang out. 

Her plan was for them to go see a movie about some kingdom invading another and then head to the park. There, she would make an excuse to leave and let the old friends bond. The least she could do was help them rekindle their friendship. From what she's seen so far, it wouldn't be that hard.

She met Riku there, who looked a little nervous. 

“Come on Riku, you'll be fine,” Kairi placed a hand on his shoulder. 

“Is it that obvious?” 

“A little.” 

Riku sighed, “What would you do if you were in my situation?”

Kairi thought for a moment. “Well,” she started,  “I’d be a little nervous, too. But just treat him like a normal friend.”

“Like a normal friend,” he repeated slowly, “Yeah. I can do that.” 

Kairi grinned, “See? Now let's get some popcorn while we wait for Sora.”

They went to stand in line, both keeping an eye out for the door to see if Sora walked inside. The line was pretty long, so Kairi took the opportunity to set up her excuse to leave that she came up with on the way there. The plan was to have a phone call from Nami to give her an excuse to leave. Kairi was about to text her cousin the time to call when suddenly, her phone was taken out of her hands. Riku was holding it with a smug look on his face. 

“No phones in the movie theater.” 

Kairi tried to grab it back, “You can't just suddenly make up rules like that!” She was hiding her phone screen away from him, too! “Can't you mind a girl’s privacy?” 

“Look,” he held up her phone and turned it off, “See? No privacy invaded whatsoever.”

“You still have my phone.” 

Riku put the hand holding the phone behind his back, then held out both of his hands, the phone was gone. 

“What did you do with it?” Kairi pointed at him accusingly.

“A magician can never reveals his secrets.” 

“You're not a magician, you're an asshole.”

“And you're not getting out of this that easily.” 

Kairi stuck out her tongue at Riku and swung her bag at him, missing purposefully. Riku just laughed as they got closer to the front of the line. 

“You guys seem pretty close,” Sora’s amused voice came from behind them. 

Riku turned around, a bit startled, “Since when have you been there?” 

“Not that long, actually. Sorry I'm a bit late, though. I had to help a friend I was passing by, so I kind of lost track of time,” he scratched the back of his head. 

“It’s fine, we're just getting popcorn,” Kairi smiled. 

After the trio got their overpriced popcorn and drinks, they headed in, barely catching the previews ending. The movie was okay, but Kairi never really focused on it. Instead, both Riku and Kairi focused on the fact that Sora was dead asleep the entire movie.

At first they just watched as he didn't even twitch at the explosions in the movie. Then Kairi put her popcorn tray on his head. They were in the very back and they weren't blocking the view of anyone, so why not?

Despite how against it he was, Riku laughed as she filled the tray up with popcorn and took a few pictures to show Sora later. Kairi decided it was a great idea that they use his head as a tray holder and eat off of it. After the movie, Sora yawned the second they took the tray off his head, which told Kairi only one thing. 

“You were awake the whole time, weren't you?” 

“I mean, I  _ was _ sleeping at first. But you guys looked like you were having fun so…”

“So you let us put popcorn on your head,” Riku finished as they walked out of the theater.

Sora shrugged, “Sometimes it's better to let people have their fun. Did you guys get any pictures?” 

Kairi smiled as Riku handed Sora his  phone and they scrolled through the pictures. She then down the street. “There's a gas station over there. Let's go inside and get some snacks.” 

The inside if the store was small and a TV was on in a corner. The news was being broadcasted. 

_ “Two members of the recent criminal group calling themselves the Twilight Tempest were seen at Midnight Mall earlier today on top of the roof. According to some witnesses, no one even knew the situation was serious until authorities showed up and opened fire. When they did, however, the suspects left.” _

An interview with a witness played on the screen. 

_ “I had just walked out when I was done buying, and I looked up after hearing some noise coming from above me. And there they were.” _

_ “What do you think the suspects were doing?”  _

_ “I have no idea, but no one really gets to see one of those Gifted people’s powers. It was kinda wild.” _

Sora must have noticed the way Kairi and Riku were looking at the TV, “I guess you guys aren't big fans of the new guys.”

Riku shook his head and tried to explain in a way that didn't reveal their identities, “They destroyed a bank and took hostages, even if it was said to be for only a few minutes. I wouldn't be to fond of a group like that.”

“And we’re huge fans of the superheroes here!” Kairi added, just to make it more believable. 

Sora nodded and looked away, “Yeah, makes sense. I wouldn't like it if the place I keep all of my money in was destroyed, after all.” 

Though the conversation passed and Sora now chatted with Riku as they shopped, something about Sora’s response kept it stuck in her head the entire time. His tone when he said it wasn't pessimistic, but the way he worded it was unusual. 

They bought as much fizzy drinks and candy they could afford. Kairi got really sweet gummy fruit candies and some gummy worms for Naminé, Sora got chocolate, and Riku got Skittles. 

“Just Skittles, Riku?” Sora asked as they walked out of the store. Kairi grinned as Riku looked down at his purchase. It was every type of them he could get.

“Well, our island was so small, so I hadn't actually had any candy other than the traditional kind that we made. So when I got here this was the first candy I tried…” 

“And he got obsessed with it,” Kairi finished for him.

“Wha-  _ Kairi!” _ Riku looked embarrassed.

Sora laughed. Kairi decided that she liked seeing him happy. She shared a look with Riku, who was probably thinking the same thing. 

They got to the park as the sky started to turn to the yellow of the afternoon. They found a bench that was close to a fountain and sat down incorrectly like the teenagers they were. Kairi sat on the side of the bench, Riku actually sat responsibly on the bench, Sora sat on the other side of him on the back of the bench with his feet on the seat. They chatted away about their thoughts on silly things. 

“I didn't even know that you knew Naminé, she barely talks about anything to me.”

“Really?” Sora looked surprised, “She never stops talking unless she's concentrating.”

“Kairi’s kinda like that, too,” Riku pointed out and got punched in the side for it. “Ow. I think you broke a bone there.” 

Kairi just rolled her eyes because she knew he was faking. “Anyways, let's play a game.” 

“What game?” Sora asked.

Kairi reached into her bag and pulled out a green soda bottle. She grinned when she saw Riku cringe. She turned the bottle to show the label. 

“Super Soda?” Sora read it out loud.

“Yup. We’re playing my version of ‘Never Have I Ever,’” Kairi took three small paper cups out of her bag. “Each time you've done something the other person says they haven't done, you take a drink of this. The person who had taken the least amount of drinks by the time the bottle is empty is the winner.”

Riku made a face of disgust, “Don't trust her. What's in that bottle is absolutely disgusting.”

“You're just overdramatic,” Kairi giggled. 

“Says the one who always wins.” 

Kairi just shook her head, “I'll go first. Never have I ever been asleep for more than twenty-four hours.” 

“I have,” Sora said reminiscent tone. Kairi wondered about the story behind that.

“That's unfair, you already know I have,” Riku accused.

“Well, it’s good to know you are  _ both _ lazy bums.” Kairi poured a bit of the soda into two cup and handed them to Sora and Riku. Sora drank it in one gulp and Riku did the same. 

“I hate this,” Riku grumbled. “It doesn't matter if I drink it fast or slow, I still taste it.” 

“It’s really sweet, like someone put way too much sugar in it, but it's not that bad,” Sora said thoughtfully.

“Three… two… one…” Kairi counted down. Sora’s face scrunched up and he made a sound that vaguely sounded like “eww” mixed with unidentifiable noises of disgust.

“Why is it so bitter and spicy?! How does that work!?” He made another noise.

Riku gagged, his aftertaste coming a bit later than Sora's, but nasty all the same. Once they both lost enough of the taste, Sora turned to Riku.

“Why’d you sleep for so long?” 

“I had a pretty long day and it was a weekend, so I just slept for a long time. What did you do?”

“I fell into a coma for a year,” Sora says like it's not a big deal. Kairi immediately takes the hint that he doesn't want to talk about it, but Riku presses further in concern. 

“What happened to you?”

Sora looks everywhere else but Riku’s eyes and looks like he's deciding what to say. From all of her training in identifying body language, she came to one conclusion,  _ he’s about to lie _ . But it wasn't her job to push the issue because it was obviously a sore subject. 

“I got sick,” was his answer. 

Kairi put a hand on Riku's shoulder to stop him from pressing more, he got pretty intense when he was concerned.

“Riku, it's your turn,” she said. 

For a while the game was a bit awkward. But it soon picked up and in the end Kairi won again. She's never lost a game and is proud of it, but she was close in score with Sora. They decided to walk through the park as it got later in the day. 

“Are you ever going to give me back my phone?” She knew he didn't have it in his pocket or anything, so he probably teleported it somewhere. 

“Oh, uh, right,” Riku put his hand behind his back and acted like he pulled it out of his pocket. “Just please don't leave,” he said quietly enough that Sora couldn't hear. 

Kairi nodded. Even if it was Sora, she needed to show her support. She felt like an idiot, how could she even plan to leave? She had to support her friend by being active, not standing from the sidelines and observing. She would cheer him on from right next to him, not behind.

“Thanks,” she said out loud as she pocketed her phone. 

“What have you been doing since I left the island?” Sora asked.

“Well I was sent here close to the end of elementary school, then Kairi found me and decided somehow that I wasn't some freak of nature and here we are.” 

A wave of emotion seemed to pass over Sora’s face. Looks like they both knew about Riku’s problem getting people to like him. 

“How about your cousin? Is he the same one that visited on your  birthday?” Sora sounded excited.

“The very same. He's not much of a pain to live near. He's actually pretty cool, but kinda lazy.”

Kairi giggled at that, “You know that's because he's always tired. You would be too if you worked that late.”

“But at a café that serves so much caffeine it should be a coffee shop? I wouldn't be  _ that _ tired.”

“That makes sense.”

They went on about their lives or how funny something was on one of their phones or random topics that came to mind until they each noticed how late it was. Kairi was actually pretty happy when they parted ways. Sora was really nice and seemed really interested in everything. 

Kairi walked with Riku to their bus stop. She would have to get off one stop before he had to, so they had a little time to chat about the day. Riku seemed happy enough. Actually, this was the happiest she'd seen him since they went to the Disney Town gift shop and she bought him a poster. 

Kairi liked seeing Riku and Sora happy. She was amazed at how quickly Sora fit into that space and how happy it made her that he did.

Plus one friend to add to her list.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you there would be more interaction. 
> 
> A lot of Xion's part was me practicing writing someone with they/them pronouns (at least for this chapter). It's actually pretty difficult when you've been trained your entire life to only using they for multiple people. 
> 
> Next will be a little bit more elaborating on the past then we'll get back to superhero and supervillian business. Oh man, will that be fun.
> 
> Can you guess who Riku's cousin is from all the hints I've given?


	5. Of present and past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riku makes a desicion on an offer to learn. The Tempest twins remember a time in the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait. it took me a bit to decide which part of the story i wanted this chapter to portray. 
> 
> I should be back on a regular schedule. HELL YEAH SUMMER TIME
> 
> enjoy!

Riku woke up to a beeping noise. It was early in the morning, around four, but he didn't mind. He was used to it anyways.

The alert was in his area, a medium level threat. Some type of powerful magic signal. He would be the only one in the scene. Quickly, with the proficiency of someone who's done this plenty of times, Riku gets dressed, leaves a note on his cousin Noctis's door, and teleported to the area in the message.

There was about a five block radius of where the signal could be coming from, so it was probably better to start searching from the highest vantage point. The largest building he could see was an office building that probably housed numerous companies. He doubted anyone would be there so early in the morning, even the always loud streets were pretty quiet.

Riku teleported to the roof of the building. Immediately moving to get a better overhead view of the area, moving his blindfold to his forehead so it’s less bothersome. There were plenty of places that someone could easily hide to get away from his line of vision, but from what he could see and sense, no one was using any magic outside.

Then, in the familiar distorted tone that he had only come to know a few days before, came a voice. 

“You probably shouldn’t stand so close to the edge of the roof like that.” Riku quickly lowered his blindfold and turned to face him, but before he could get a word out, No Name spoke again.

“How about we call another truce?”

Truce? Why would he go through answering more ridiculous questions? “Do you think I’m stupid? You probably set this all up. What is this? A distraction for something else?”

No Name took an audible deep breath of air and then ran toward him. Reflexively, Riku put up a barrier of Light to stop his path. He did stop, but then he seemed to examine it. 

“You don’t spread out your light evenly. Here,” he tapped a spot close to the bottom edge and it cracks, “As well as here,” he tapped a place near the top, breaking it entirely. “Those are your weak spots.”

Riku stood there for a moment, completely confused. “Why would you tell me this?” 

“Well, I originally thought you came to take me up on my offer to teach you how to stop being predictable,” No Name jumped up on one of the AC boxes, playing with something in his hands. 

“Why did you offer in the first place?” 

He shrugged, “I want to help. You're the one who's caught in the middle of this whole thing, and I would feel bad if you couldn't defend yourself properly.”

Riku scoffed, “My team and I can hold my own against you guys.”

No Name tossed what was in his hand up into the air. A snowball. “I wasn't talking about us-” 

He cut himself off, dropping the snowball to the ground. They both sort of stared at the sad lump that started to melt. Then with a wave of his hand, the snow was gone (as well as the previous subject).

“So how about that truce, Daybreak?”

Riku thought about it. He could get a lot of information out of this, and if things got dangerous, he could handle it on his own. If he agreed, he’d have to keep it from his team, but most importantly, Kairi. That would be difficult, he couldn’t even dream of lying to her. (He’d tried to hide something from her before. She immediately caught on and interrogated it out of him.) On the other hand, if it never came up, he wouldn't need to lie.

But then came the question of why he would need to learn from this guy in the first place. He didn't doubt those he worked for. He was trained by them and made it this far, right? Why should he suddenly look to outside sources? Riku was definitely stuck here. 

“Do you need more time to think? I have until six-”

“No, no. I'll do it,” Riku says before he can stop himself, “But I have a few terms for this truce.”

No Name laid down on his back, his feet dangling over the edge of the A.C. unit. It seemed almost childlike and trusting, laying down exposed like that when, at any moment, Riku could change his mind and strike. Maybe that was the point, to make him underestimate the villain.

“Name your terms.”

“Mostly the same as before, our teams aren’t part of this. If there’s any conflict between us two outside of this, then we don’t bring it up. Any one of us can call it off at any time. Lastly, this is private. Neither the media or the UGPA will know of our deal. Simple enough to understand.” 

“I'm the bad guy, aren't I? A criminal? Don't tell me you think I've never made a deal before, do you?”

“You don't need to remind me,” Riku scoffed.

No Name sat up and shook his hand. Riku had to at least get some info out of this deal or else it would be all for nothing.

The first thing No Name tried to do was to quite obviously ask about his identity. After being shot down, they got to work.

The first thing Riku practiced on was making his barriers more even. In fact, that was the only thing he worked on. It was difficult, and every time he made one, the villain could easily point out several flaws. But he was surprisingly patient and encouraging. 

It was actually pretty easy to forget No Name was a villain. His mannerisms always seemed relaxed and uncaring (and genuinely interested), but his words were careful. It didn't matter to Riku, as he was watching what he said as well, but that was mostly due to him always having to anyways.

As he said, No Name left at six. Some type of small round device made a swirling green spot on the ground appear (as well as equally swirling, equally green mist coming from it.) As soon as the criminal had walked through it and disappeared, the device made a loud  _ pop _ and the parts inside were gone, leaving Riku unable to salvage it.

They were to meet back at the same place on Sunday. What did Riku get himself into? He considered, not for the first time, if he was doing the right thing with this whole deal.

His entire being was filled with doubt as he teleported himself back to his room and got ready for school. He doubted he could last all day without sleeping in class. He doubted if he, a  _ superhero _ , should be taking lessons from No Name, a damn  _ villain. _ He doubted that he could last a week before Kairi found out. He doubted that the Association was like he thought it was.

Riku paused in his routine, half of a shirt put over his head. When… did that happen? He had always fully trusted the UGPA, why now of all times did he lose his faith in them? Then it hit him.  _ The Tempest _ . What was it that he had said?

_ “You're the one who's caught in the middle of this whole thing…” _

_ “I wasn't talking about us…” _

He's stupid for falling for it. They were trying to make him bite the hand that feeds him and join their storm of insanity. He wouldn't go against the Association. Nothing, not even using their meetings to gain information, makes him a traitor. 

 

**\---**

 

Sora knew he probably shouldn't have done that without the approval of the rest of the Tempest and he knew that he would just be making things difficult, but his gut feeling said a lot of progress would come out of it. 

If they were to take down the UGPA, they needed more than five. This was the best way they could, a rallying cry to all of their connections that  _ they _ didn't have full control and that not all hope was lost.

It would work, he just needed a little time. 

He dismissed his Tempest outfit and got into bed next to his brother ten minutes before their alarm went off. It was easy to pretend to be tired as he went about his daily routine because he was. The rest of the morning passed by uneventful until he got to school. 

As they reached the front of their school, Sora watched as his brother stopped. Following his gaze to a blonde-haired student wearing a different school uniform that just so happened to be passing buy, he couldn't help but wonder how they might've known each other. 

“Wait here for me. I'll be right back.” Vanitas’s voice was… empty. Just completely rid of any emotion. But Sora knew he was just hiding them, pushing it out through his Darkness with every step, right into the concrete where no one would see. 

His brother pat his shoulder as he walked past. Sara momentarily hated himself for slinking away from it, but quickly shoved that in the past where it belonged. 

He took to leaning against the front gate as he watched the conversation from afar. He couldn't hear what they were saying and couldn't see Vani’s face, but he could see the other boy's.   _ “Pissed off” _ was an understatement.  

When his brother came back, the kid was absolutely fuming and he was laughing. The fact that Vani was laughing meant nothing to Sora, it sounded just as empty as his voice had been earlier. 

“Remind me how we’re related again?” Sora rolled his eyes, “I don't know how you find joy in making people hate you and I don't want to.” 

“I'm just doing my job. We’re villains, aren't we?” Vani said in a low voice. 

“Don't use the Tempest as an excuse.” 

“I just know him, okay? He doesn't like anything I say, even if it  _ is _ good.”

“Still.”

They spend the rest of the walk to their homeroom in quiet. It's early and there's not many people in the halls.

When they're seated, Vanitas finally says a quiet “Fine.” It's over. The small disagreement is resolved. 

But Vanitas had obviously been turning something over in his mind. Sora would never admit it out loud, but the same event had been occupying the back of his thoughts for the past couple of days, ever since Riku had asked about it. 

 

**\---**

 

_ 2 Years after they moved. _

Sora thought his brother was mean. A simple way to put it, really. Though they had been encouraged by their uncle to explore their abilties, Vani was cruel. They didn't live close to other kids, so he would “play with the animals.” 

Sora saw him do it once, to a squirrel. His brother made the squirrel paralyzed in fear. 

It was a few days after that when Vani did it to one of their classmates. Sora stood up for the kid, but he was easily shoved to the ground and out of the way. He had seen the kid’s eyes glaze over in complete  _ terror _ before tackled him to the ground. 

His brother was  _ cruel _ . He had learned the word from a classmate older than him. He also learned that what Vani was doing was  _ torture _ . 

Sora made a decision. A small and childlike decision with small and childlike logic. Vani was like this because he had too much Darkness inside of him, so if he gave him some of his Light…

It was a simple plan. They shared the same room, so all he would have to do is create Light and share it with him.

But as Sora reached out to possibly help him, his light woke him up. A rush of pitch black sent Sora flying into the opposite wall. 

“Trying to attack while I'm asleep means you're a  _ coward!” _

Sora was pinned to the wall now. All he could see was the face of unfiltered anger and betrayal directed only at him. 

“I don't want to fight you!” 

_ “You say that when I'm awake!”  _

He wanted a fight so badly? Sora pushed him back a few feet, quickly putting up barriers all around him. He was safe for now, so he slid down to the ground. Then came a loud  _ bang  _ on the barrier in front of him. Sora flinched as he saw it crack.  

He was still coming after him. Sora had to say something,  _ anything _ . He never wanted to hurt him, he just wanted to  _ help _ . Vani must hate him. Sora doesn't want his brother to hate him because he's seen what happens to the things he hates. He's terrified to become one of them. 

“I was trying to help you!” He yells. Heavy amounts of Dark magic poured through the crack in his barrier, grabbing onto his arm. He's already starting to feel sick. 

“You always are so mean! If I gave you some of my light, you'd be nice again!” Sora knows that Vani stopped. There was no more magic coming for him. No more danger. But the already oppressive magic was taking it's toll on him. He needed to rest. Resting always fought away the Darkness that made him sick.

Sora fell asleep. 

There was a crack, then a bang, then all the barriers were gone. 

Vanitas couldn't see his brother. He was surrounded by Darkness.  _ His darkness.  _ He got rid of it and scrambled over as quickly as he could. 

Sora was on the ground, leaning against the wall, asleep. 

The next few days, Vanitas watched as his brother came in and out of sleep. Whenever Sora was awake, he called the Dr. Even, one of their uncle’s associates, into the room to talk to him. He didn't speak or even look at Sora when he was awake and left as soon as the doctor entered the room. 

But after those few days passed, Sora did not wake up again. He was in a coma. 

As a safety precaution, Vanitas was moved out of the room. He could visit during the day, but he no longer slept in the same room as his brother. His darkness could make his condition worse.

While Sora slept, Vanitas shoved any and every emotion he could out through his darkness. Shoving them in corners and under the couch or under the bed. But they always returned to him in small, whispy things with yellow eyes, like they hadn't been fully formed. 

By the end of two weeks, he had a small army of them following him around. He hated it at first, before he pushed that away too. 

Months and months came and went. There was a swarm of them now, getting agitated by the day. The would pick at him and annoy him until he shoved the annoyance away. 

For almost a year, Vanitas didn't let himself feel. Then, his emotions came back to him. 

He had been in the back yard, unable to stay inside their house any longer than needed anymore. He didn't know the right word for it, but it was enough for him to leave. He couldn't do what his brother could do; he couldn't make anyone  _ happy _ . But there were plenty of other emotions.  _ Sad, angry, disgusted, terrified. _ He shoved the thought out of his head as well as any emotion that came from it.

Then, there was a loud  _ crack _ that rang in his ears, deaf to the outside world. Like a dam broke inside of him, Vanitas felt the wall that was keeping his emotions at bay  _ completely shatter _ . 

There was a reason he kept shoving them away, they weren't nice things to feel. S _ adness, anger, disgust, terror.  _ The things he made others feel but refused to feel himself. But the largest emotions he felt were  _ regret, guilt, and- _

For a week, Vanitas refused to leave the room Sora was in. He tried talking to him to catch him up on what's been happening, not knowing if he could even be heard.

_ “The new video game you like just came out. The one with the colors I said were too bright.” _

_ “Our birthday passed a while ago. I'm still saving my presents for if- for when you wake up.” _

_ “Did you know kids in class asked me about you? They're not as scared of me now, is that a good thing?” _

_ “I know you help a lot of people you run into… they've asked about you.” _

_ “I'm sorry.” _

Then, on the seventh day, Sora opened his eyes.

Vanitas had bolted out of the room, almost tripping on the cables going to the IV stand and the expensive medical technology. 

“Vani wait!” Sora’s voice was strained and scratchy. 

Dr. Even had been brought back to check up on his condition. He answered as many questions as he could with a weary voice. The doctor left soon, too soon. Sora was left staring at Vanitas, and Vanitas at Sora.

Vanitas stood on the other side of the room like he was trying to distance himself as much as he could. Sora was actually grateful for it. After what happened, it would take a while for him to get used to Vanitas again.

Sora spoke first, “D-Do you hate me? I mean-” 

Sora stopped when he saw Vanitas flinch. Vanitas knew why Sora was worried about it. His brother was _afraid_ _of_ _him_. Where he usually took pride in making people fear him, it felt wrong. _Everything felt wrong_. He didn't know what was right.

Vanitas didn't voice his struggle out loud, but instead replied, “I don't.”

“That's… good.” 

The silence was awkward. Sora was usually good at talking to people. Vani was an entirely different story. He never had gotten along much with him. They were distant at best. He didn't know him that well, if he was honest, but he could tell there was something off. He seemed… sad.

Sora opened his mouth to ask, but Vani spoke first. 

“I'm sorry.”

Sora hadn’t expected him to say that,but recovered quickly enough to apologize as well, “I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have tried to fix you without asking. See now? We’re even-”

“This isn't about being  _ even _ ,” Vani cuts him off, “We’re  _ not _ . I'm a bad person.”

Sora doesn't know what to say at first. He had been told by Dr. Even that he had been out for an entire year. Vanitas was so much more mature than him, while Sora had the same words and the same mindset. He wasn't used to bigger problems.

“You'll get there,” Sora says, but he knows that it's not exactly what he wants to say.

Vanitas wanted to yell at him. There's no way he could ever be even with him. Sora makes people happy, he hurts people. He hurt Sora when he had just wanted to fix him.  _ Fix _ . He couldn't be fixed, he wasn't broken. He was just bent into something twisted and horrible.

“I can't.”

“But you want to, right?” 

Vani nods.

“If you don't like how you are now, then you can be better.”

He had no idea how much those words would help, how far they would take his brother into making him a good person. 

_ You can be better. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vanitas basically already had his character arc. He was a no no and now he's trying to get better. 
> 
> The Unversed are kinda a thing and also kinda not. i wanted to fit them in somehow. 
> 
> Xion named the green portal things Save Points.
> 
> Next up is a point of view from someone I've unfortunately neglected. Expansion! Yay!
> 
> Constructive criticism is encouraged!


	6. At Dusk, I Will Search For You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas is an Agent for the UGPA, a friend of Lea and Xion, and not Ven's twin. He also likes to skateboard and hang out at dusk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'know whenever i say im gonna make a schedule immediately stop me from lying to myself.
> 
> in my defense, this chapter was a bitch to write and the characters decided to suddenly change without me asking them to.

Roxas and Ventus were not twins. Maybe they looked exactly the same and may have been the same relative age (neither of them knew their exact birthdays), but they were not twins. Ven was adopted four years before Roxas was. They weren't even blood-relatives and had the blood tests to prove it, but people called them twins anyways.

Some, like their parents, didn't treat them like twins, but that was even worse. Instead of treating them like two separate but identical looking human beings, they treated Roxas like a rehash of Ven. 

As a result, Roxas made it a point separate himself from Ventus. The only thing they really had in common now was the same type of mutation and their jobs as superheroes. 

Roxas didn’t mean to -- didn't  _ want _ to -- be rude to Ven, it was just difficult to not be a bit unfriendly to the person he was constantly compared to. But it didn’t mean he hated him. A lot of the time adults would chalk it up to being whiny teen drama or that he was just in his “rebellious angst phase” (He was definitely  _ not _ being angsty. That phase happened in middle school and he never wanted to do that ever again, thank you very much.)

The worst part of it was that when he did actually something  _ himself _ that Ven had never done, his parents didn't pay it a second glance. It was like having an older sibling without them actually being older. All he could do was a sit quietly at the dinner table because they never asked about his day. Not like it mattered if they did so or not, for all he tried and failed at separating himself, he'd gotten long past the point of caring.

A crash that came from the kitchen. Roxas didn't even need to look up to know it was Ventus. Only  _ he _ was that clumsy to break something, even with super speed and reflexes. Roxas rolled his eyes, turning off the random channel that happened to be on the TV and tumbling off the couch. 

He sent a quick text to Lea and Xion.

_ +2 others _

**_A literal sack of rocks:_ ** _ any of u free to go to the clock tower?? _

**_actual hell:_ ** _ Nah man _

**_actual hell:_ ** _ I have work _

**_actual hell:_ ** _ Sorry _

**_she off:_ ** _ be there in 30? _

**_A literal sack of rocks:_ ** _ yup _

He knew it was petty to leave as soon as Ven walked in, but that was  _ kinda the point _ . But he had one more thing he needed to do.

Roxas poked his head into the kitchen on the scene of Ven cleaning up some type of shattered substance on the floor. It was pink and white porcelain shards and parts in a puddle of water. That could only one thing; Ventus knocked over the mini fountain. Despite it being one of the less-strange things they have decorating their house, it held a lot of sentimental value to their deaf mother, while their father hated it. 

Ventus caught him watching from the kitchen doorway and sent him a pleading look to be quiet about it. Roxas shook his head and walked away. They’d talk about the terms to his silence later. 

Roxas grabbed his bag and his skateboard and headed out without a word. He had taken up skateboarding three years ago, when he was fourteen. It was originally just a hobby that Xion convinced him to try after she had left one at his house once. She lent him her skateboard for a month before giving him one that she made. Now Roxas went everywhere on it. 

Roxas jumped down the steps and onto the sidewalk. As soon as he stepped on the skateboard, the world him stopped. No, everything was moving, just really slow. 

A bird slowly flapped its wings in a tree as it prepared to take off, people walked in slow motion, a squirrel unhurriedly scrambled up a tree. Roxas wasn't affected by this, instead he put in his earbuds. Sound from outside his “Zone” (as he’d come to call it) always irritated his ears because of how much slower it was, so he came prepared with either earbuds or ear plugs. 

He started on his way to the clocktower, taking the quieter streets with less people. Technically, he wasn't supposed to be using any abilities in public, but to any onlooker it just looked like he was going fast. 

He got there with plenty of time to spare since only three minutes passed in real time. It was fine though, he needed time to relax. He was still feeling the bruises from the run-in he had with a member of the Tempest the day before. Oath? To him, her name didn't sound like much of a villain name. But to be fair his  _ did _ and he was a hero.

Hero. The word that lingers in Roxas’s mind. He didn't know how she had gotten the word under his skin. 

_ Hero. _

 

Roxas had been trailing her for a couple blocks now. He knew that she was attempting to throw him off her trail, but he was hoping to get a lead on where their hideout was. 

As the criminal turned another corner, Roxas moved from his hiding place. Poking his head around the corner, the world slowed just in time for him to skillfully dodge a knife aimed for his head. 

The world outside the Zone was slowed enough that he could see that the knife was aimed just past his face. 

Looking back to Oath, he realized what she was trying to do. 

“I'm not leaving that easily. If you think you can take me, your on. Otherwise, turn yourself in.” 

Her behavior was comparable with the rest of her team. Quieter, but she stood out more. The glowing white on her clothes suddenly turned a bright blue. 

“Checkmate.” She launched herself at him with incredible speed. He put himself into his Zone dodging out of the way and attempting to trip her. Oath sidestepped, and threw a kick to his chest, knocking him back a few feet. He was still standing when she rushed again.  

They were in close combat now, both dodging and throwing a series of kicks and punches. Neither of them landed even a hit on each other and it was honestly annoying. It was like when he occasionally sparred with Ventus, neither of them could hit each other, with or without mutations. 

Roxas’s mind screeched to a halt at the thought and he failed to move out of the way of a kick to the face that sent him flying (it was probably laced with magic). He hit the wall of the building a few feet away on his right side, but any pain that came from it was immediately overridden by the constant thought of  _ how how how how how can she keep up with me? _

The only person that could keep up with him was Ven, but that was because of his mutation. Last time Oath wasn't nearly as fast and had stayed back on the defensive. 

“You're a Agent right? You should get up. There are bigger problems that you deal with than me. Could you show me that you can?” 

He looked up to where she stood above him. She held a hand out like she  _ didn't _ just kick him into a building anime-style. And surprisingly, he took it. 

Roxas stood and got into a fighting stance. “And it's Superhero, not ‘Agent.’” 

He felt as if he saw something pass over Oath like a ghost, but she rushed at him once again making him forget about it.

“If you are not-" 

She pushed him back into the wall.

“-helping and saving  _ your _ people-” 

Roxas increased his focus on his Zone, making her slightly slower than him and giving him an opening to duck to her left side.

“-and you’re helping the  _ enemy _ unwillingly-" 

Roxas swept her feet from out from under her and she fell onto her back. He pinned her down, practically feeling a glare coming from behind the helmet. But something told him it wasn't directed at him.

“-you are not a  _ Hero _ . You're an  _ Agent _ for  _ them _ .”

From this close, Roxas could see his reflection in her helmet. His own blue eyes behind his black mask that covered half his face. But behind the material of the helmet, he could barely, just barely see a different pair of eyes. 

Suddenly there was a blast to his side, the same one he hurt before. He had a go at round number two for getting launched into walls, this one on the other side of the street and it hurt way more. 

By the time Roxas looked up, Oath was gone. The automatic signal his clothes sent out when he was injured was received and Aqua was there helping him stand because  _ of course she was.  _

It wasn't like he didn't  _ like _ Aqua, far from it in fact. But she was  _ the worst _ when it came to treating him like Ven. She and Terra were family friends, but they weren't  _ his _ friends. They were Ven’s friends, which meant he would stay away from becoming their friend too.

He was taken to a hospital and was treated by a specialist for Gifted. He didn't remember most of it, but felt worse when he left. They seemed to just love to use any and all chances to turn him into a research project. But he wasn't worried about that at the moment.

Roxas only thought about the words Oath had said. He didn't know what she meant be half of those words, but he hated that in some ways, she was right.

They're only called superheroes by the public, but they're more like a special police force. The police and help services are the ones who save people while they confront the criminals.

 

_ Some hero I am. _

 

Roxas stared at the slowly setting sun. Villains had always had a thing with trying to get into others heads, even in old movies and comics. This didn't feel manipulative though, just worrying. Nothing she said had hurt his mindset (but she definitely had hurt physically, he still had a quickly-healing bruise on his side). He felt like there was something he was missing in the greater picture, something that Oath had been trying to fill in for him.

Roxas remembered back to Oath’s helmet. The eyes behind it, he could barely see at the time. But if he looked back on the memory he could just make out part of them.

Her eyes were blue.

“Hey, Rox.” Familiar black hair and blue eyes poked out from around the corner.

Roxas glanced up, locking eyes with Xion as she came around the corner with two ice creams in her hand. It had been her turn to get them that time. 

“Hey yourself,” Roxas said as he took the offered ice cream from her hand. He removed the wrapper, carefully trying to make it looked like he was focusing on his ice cream instead of slowing the world outside his Zone down just enough that Xion wouldn't notice. Then they could watch the sun set longer.

They sat in a warm silence for a bit, eating sea salt ice cream and watching the sky. Roxas let his mind wander away from his previous thoughts to random things that came across his mind.

“Do fish have noses?” was the first thing to come out of his mouth since greeting her. Xion snorted in surprise and giggled at his random question. 

“Pfft, yeah they do. They can't really smell very well and they don't breathe from it, but it's there,” she grinned.

“How do you know all this stuff, Xion? I can barely remember stuff from  _ school _ .”

There was a pause in the conversation in which he watched as Xion leaned back on her palms, her legs swinging over the edge. She was frowning a little, but her face turned away with a hum when she noticed Roxas staring. 

“A quick Google search over random thoughts I have and stuff I learn, usually. It's like what Lea says, I’ve got it memorized. But instead of just his name, it's everything else as well.”

Roxas thought about the time he offhandedly mentioned wanting a moogle figure and Xion 3D printed it for his birthday months later. It made sense, if she could remember even the little things. 

“That's pretty cool,” Roxas said, and he meant it, but… “You kind of make it seem like a secret, is it one?” 

A familiar look passed over her face, the one that she made when she was thinking. She slowly nodded, having come up with her answer. 

“I guess so. But I'm fine with you and Lea knowing.”

Speaking of which… “Where does Lea work at anyways? I know he can't help his work schedule, but sometimes it pisses me off when he skips… this,” Roxas gestured randomly, not having a word for their weird afternoon hangouts.

Xion seemed to go stiff before relaxing once again, “He’s kinda like a recruiter for this big company he works for, only the opposite.” 

“So he fires people,” Roxas filled in.

“Something like that.” Xion sighed, “Don't be mad at him though, he’s here when it counts.” 

“Or when we give him enough grief for it,” Roxas rolled his eyes.

“But he always comes back a new weird fire trick to show us.” 

One of them came to mind, “Remember the one when he made a flaming hoop out of napkins and accidentally dropped it off the tower?”

“Of course! And it almost landed on Seifer’s head. He looked so mad, but Lea just waved at him. Who does that?”

“Only our favorite pyromaniac.”

They both laughed at the fond memory, moving their conversation from one topic to the other. Eventually, even though the outside world was slower, the sun had begun to set. They both left with happy farewells underneath a purple sky, and Roxas started skating back home. 

He decided not to activate his Zone for now, as he put enough strain on his body already. He stood waiting at an empty street corner feeling like he should put off going home. 

No, no. Roxas should go straight home, his family wasn't bad. In fact, they were all good people. It was just him being selfish and angry, so he’d go home even if he didn't want to. 

Roxas sped up on his skateboard, the sky was getting pretty dark. Something about it reminded him of his curfew, but it shouldn't be a problem for another few hours, right? He could always hang out at the skatepark, there were a number of types of people who hung out there (usually smoking) around the same time. He didn't participate in it, but he knew them well enough. 

Yeah. Roxas would be safe there. And as the sky above him turned a sickly looking black, he did not feel safe  _ here _ .

He considered using his Zone and getting out of there fast, but as soon as the thought came, his head exploded in pain. 

Roxas crashed to the ground, his skateboard flipped over a few times before it rolled into an alley nearby. Covered in scratches from the pavement, he laid there completely paralyzed by some outside source. He couldn't help but think of one thing. Whoever it is, whatever they want with him,  _ they know _ .

His vision became blurry and his breathing felt shallow as he started to panic. The outline of black boots were suddenly in front of him.

_ They know. _

He wanted to scream, call for help,  _ something _ . But of course he couldn’t, as he felt like he was being filled with an inky type of static, like he was trying to listen to someone whisper while plugging his ears except for with all of his senses. 

_ They know. _

The last thing he could hear was a deep voice. 

**_“Sleep, Shadow.”_ **

Roxas’s world went dark. 

_ They know. _

 

**\---**

 

Ventus knew he didn’t get along with his brother. Okay, that was an understatement, he knew Roxas hated him. He always understood why. It wasn't hard to miss the way their parents would bring up him joining the track team and make a remark about how Roxas is so fast  _ just like him _ so he should  _ obviously _ do whatever he does. He gets it and he doesn't blame him. 

But sometimes, Ven missed when they actually did get along. It was when Roxas had first been adopted and the moment didn't last very long, but he missed it. There were moments every now and then when they acted like actual siblings instead of total strangers to each other, but they were rare, small glimpses into what normal families are like. 

Their adoptive mother was deaf so their household was always quiet. Even when their father got home, Ven only talked to him about school things. Obviously his parents knew about the whole mutation thing, the only thing they didn't know about was his superhero identity.

Ventus had super speed. It was not like Roxas, where everything around him slowed, but like sprinting (only much, much faster). He had originally only told his mother about it, as he came to her with a lot of things. In turn, she liked to ask his opinion on things.

After Roxas had left, Ven did his homework while listening to music. A text lit up his phone for a moment. It was from Terra. He could probably bet what it was about.

_ +Grounded _

**_Grounded:_ ** _ Hey you know how aquas birthday is coming up next week? _

**_Grounded:_ ** _ Do you want to help me bake a cake? _

**_definition of sass:_ ** _ Sure! What time? _

**_Grounded:_ ** _ Maybe 8 in the morning on the day of so we have enough time. _

**_definition of sass:_ ** _ That’s fine with me, since its on a weekend. _

**_Grounded:_ ** _ Cool. _

**_Grounded:_ ** _ Another question though. _

**_Grounded:_ ** _ Do you know how to bake a cake? _

Ventus very carefully decided not to respond to that for a few minutes. And he definitely did not facepalm. No he totally did not at all, he wouldn’t even think of doing such a thing. After a bit he looked backed to his phone.

**_definition of sass:_ ** _ You literally. Cook. For. A. Living. _

**_Grounded:_ ** _ Im not a baker. _

**_Grounded:_ ** _ Cooking and baking are different. _

**_definition of sass:_ ** _ You should at least know something about it! _

**_Grounded:_ ** _ I know it involves an oven. _

**_definition of_ ** _**sass:** Please tell me you're joking._

**_Grounded:_ ** _Uh, not really._

**_Grounded:_ ** _ Its fine though. _

**_Grounded:_ ** _ Ill figure something out. _

Well so much for making a nice cake for Aqua. They'd be lucky if it even looked like one by the end. 

Ven looked at the clock and went back to his homework. There was still an hour left before curfew, he’d bug his brother if he started cutting it close.

 

**\---**

 

Lea didn’t necessarily  _ like _ his job, it was just that he was good at it. Okay so maybe being able to threaten people’s lives and follow through on it wasn’t a good thing, maybe being able to make sure not a trace of someone could be found was kinda icky, and  _ maybe _ he shouldn’t  _ good _ at doing something so  _ bad _ . 

Lea could barely understand why the twins even invited him to join the Tempest. He works for their uncle, they know what that implies. And yet even Sora the do-gooder doesn’t seem even remotely phased by that fact. Maybe that’s also because he babysat them once or twice (all those who were higher up in the Organization had to at least once or twice as their Superior was away on business.) 

But the twins were used to Lea, as well as everyone else in the Organization. That never explained the others. They didn’t even know of his job until recently and, while he trusts that Xion can make a way to look into where he worked without being traced, he didn’t want to risk it. He cared too much about all of his friends to let them risk it.

It was different, having friends that were younger than him. Isa and him went way back, and of course he cared for him, but he also knew Isa could take care of himself. He trusted Isa to take care of himself. ( _ Mostly _ . His best friend had a habit of being a smartass to the wrong people, but he was the most calm mannered when it came to it.) But Roxas, Xion, Naminé, and even the twins, they were still kids and didn’t deserve to be hanging around a damn  _ assassin. _ When they were around him, and even when they weren’t, they officially became his responsibility. And he didn’t really mind, even as much as he complained, they were his friends.

Which is why when Lea saw Roxas’s skateboard on his way home from work, scratched up and beaten and alone on the side of an alley, the only emotion he could feel was stone cold terror. 

He scrambled to grab his phone out of his pocket and called Roxas’s number. Hopefully the kid just left it by accident. A few seconds later, as if to confirm the slim chances of that being the case, he heard the loud tune of a popular song coming from a dumpster in the same alley. Roxas’s ringtone. With gloved hands, he grabbed Roxas’s phone from it.

The screen displayed Lea’s name and showed he was calling. He quickly ended the call, gripping tightly onto the edge of the dumpster. They took him. He didn't know who or why, but what if… it was  _ his _ fault. He’s well known as an assassin, and if someone had ever seen his face, they'd try to get revenge. Roxas got taken for revenge on  _ him _ .

“Dammit!” His fist pounded on the dumpster and it lit on fire, but he didn’t care about that too much. He had to get Roxas back. He didn’t know who took him, why they did, or where they went, but he knew just the people to help him get him back.  _ It was his fault _ . He had to.

Roxas’s phone lit up again, this time it was a call from Ventus. After taking a breath, Lea answered. 

_ “Roxas! Dammit I’ve been calling you for an hour. Where are you?” _ At that moment it occurred to him that he never heard Ven curse before, but nevermind that. Roxas’s family had the right to know. They needed to know. 

“This is Lea, actually.” 

_ “Roxas’s friend, right? Is he there?” _

He took another deep breath, trying to calm down. He had dealt with worse. He’s had to kill people, he’s had to kidnap them, he’s had to make them disappear. But he’s never had it happen to someone he cares about, he’s never thought about someone disappearing. But this was his fault, he had a responsibility for these kids, and now one of them are missing  _ because of him _ . Now, as his breath evened and the deep-rooted panic started to show less on the outside, he made a silent promise.

No matter what, he’d always be there to bring his friends back.

“Roxas isn’t here,” Lea finally said, “And that’s the problem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jesus christ 3893 words of me trying my best to get to the next plot point (aka whether or not the Tempest had an actual plan the entire time or if they were pulling shit out of their asses)
> 
> dont worry about Roxas, he just got kidnapped by some deep voiced dude. axel- i mean Lea- will probably stop at nothing to get him back. 
> 
> okay so im not going to promise a schedule, but im promising more frequent updates. that is the very least i can do because procrastination and writers block are both assholes that beat me up and take my lunch money to burn it as i watch in horror.
> 
> actually thats a little much but yeah
> 
> i also have a tumblr, so go remind me to update on there: http://ha-youwish.tumblr.com
> 
> see ya next time!
> 
> EDIT Friday, Sept. 14th: DON'T WORRY GUYS I'LL STILL UPDATE. It'll be a sort of double update with all the chapters changed and a note on chapter 7 saying to go back and read the previous one. I don't like how I went about this so it'll be a longer chapter with a mostly different plot. I'm sorry I don't even know what I'm fucking doing.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's to my first Kh fic and may kh3 come sometime soon so I can get that sweet character development. 
> 
> Constructive criticism is encouraged greatly.


End file.
